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SIN    AND    SALVATION 


BY 

HENRY    A.    NELSON 


NEW  YORK: 
ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH    &    COMPANY 

900   BROADWAY,  COR.  20th   ST. 


JS~ 


*:**■ 


COPYRIGHT,    1 88 1,   BY 
ANSON  D.    F.    RANDOLPH  &   COMPANY. 


Edward  O.  JenKins,  Printer  and  Stereotypy, 
20  North  William  St..  N.  Y. 


TO 

HIM   WHO   IS  NAMED  JESUS, 

BECAUSE 

HE  SHALL  SAVE  HIS  PEOPLE  FROM  THEIR  SINS, 

THIS  TREATISE  IS 

REVERENTLY     INSCRIBED. 


371517 


CONTENTS 


PART   FIRST.— SIN. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION,        --------7 

CHAPTER  I. 
SIN  AS  AN  ACT,        --------9 

CHAPTER  II. 
SIN  AS  A  STATE,     --------        20 

CHAPTER  III. 

SIN  AS  DISEASE,        --------30 

CHAPTER  IV. 
SIN  AS  SEPARATION  FROM  GOD,  43 

CHAPTER  V. 

SIN   AS  AN   INHERITANCE,        ------        55 

CHAPTER  VI. 
SIN  AS  A  DELUSION,        -- 67 

CHAPTER  VII. 
SIN  AS  A  DOOM,       --------78 

PART   SECOND.— SALVATION. 
SALVATION,      ---------89 

CHAPTER  I. 

SALVATION   AS  AN   ACT,  ----._        93 

(v.) 


vi  Contents. 

CHAPTER  II. 

PAGfl 

DIVERSE  BEGINNINGS  OF  SALVATION,  -  -  -      102 

CHAPTER  III. 

WHAT  IS  ESSENTIAL  TO  THE  BEGINNING  OF  SALVATION,      115 

CHAPTER  IV. 

EARLY   BEGINNING  OF  SALVATION,  -  -  -  -      127 

CHAPTER  V. 

SALVATION  AS  HEALING,  -  -  -  -  -  -      140 

CHAPTER   VI. 

SALVATION  A   RETURN  TO  GOD,      -  -  -  -  -      1 54 

CHAPTER  VII. 

SALVATION  A  RECOVERY  FROM  DELUSION,  -  -      1 67 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

SALVATION  OF  HOUSEHOLDS,  -----      178 

CHAPTER   IX. 

SALVATION  OF  SOCIETY,  ------      192 

/ 

CHAPTER  X. 

SALVATION  CONSUMMATED,  -----     204 


INTRODUCTORY. 


THE  salvation  which  is  offered  to  us  by  Jesus  Christ 
has  its  significance  from  a  true  understanding  of 
that  from  which  we  need  to  be  saved. 

The  study  of  sin  is,  no  doubt,  a  painful  study ;  yet  it 
draws  and  fastens  the  mind  to  itself  with  a  strange  inter- 
est. It  is  a  difficult  study.  It  is  a  perplexing  study. 
There  are  questions  in  it  which  never  have  been  answered, 
and  which  we  can  not  hope  to  answer.  Attempts  to  an- 
swer some  of  these  questions  have  involved  really  great 
minds  in  pitiable  perplexity. 

Is  this  a  good  reason  for  neglecting  the  subject  ?  for 
abandoning  the  study  ? 

Yonder  lies  a  lake  which  has  places  so  deep  that  they 
have  never  yet  been  sounded.  It  would  be  rash  to  say 
that  they  never  can  be;  yet,  granting  that  those  places 
are  practically  unfathomable — that  it  is  not  worth  while 
to  spend  any  more  time  in  trying  to  sound  them — is  there 
not  still  a  great  deal  that  can  be  learned  concerning  this 
lake  by  careful  observation  and  diligent  study  ?  Is  it  not 
best  for  people  who  are  to  live  on  its  shore,  and  sometimes 
to  row  and  sail  over  its  surface,  to  become  as  intelligent 
concerning  it  as  they  can  ? 

The  attempt  to  sail  to  the  North  Pole,  or  to  climb  and 
travel  to  it  among  huge  bergs  or  over  broad  floes  and 

(7) 


8   ,  Introductory. 

fields  of  ice,  among  the  rigors  and  horrors  of  Arctic  cold, 
is  probably  a  hopeless  attempt.  Intelligent  heroism  is 
not  likely  to  pursue  that  attempt  much  further.  But  shall 
science  and  enterprise  abandon  all  study  of  the  Arctic 
regions  ?  Shall  they  not  rather  keep  up  their  watch,  and 
push  their  researches  as  far  as  human  powers  and  re- 
sources are  competent  to  carry  them  with  reasonable  hope 
of  useful  results  ? 

No  more  let  us  be  discouraged  by  the  miscarriage  or 
shortcoming  of  past  attempts  in  the  investigation  and  study 
of  sin ;  no  more  let  us  be  intimidated  by  the  difficulties 
which  loom  visibly  before  us. 

We  may  well  let  these  things  make  us  modest;  make  us 
cautious;  make  us  temperate  in  our  expectations;  but 
they  do  not  justify  despair,  nor  indolence,  nor  recklessness. 

We  can  not  be  rid  of  this  subject.  Whether  we  study 
it  or  neglect  to  study  it,  we  are  inevitably  in  it,  and  it  is 
in  us.  We  can  not  escape  it  by  refusing  to  think  about  it, 
any  more  than  we  could  escape  the  bad  air  of  a  close 
chamber  by  refusing  to  become  intelligent  on  the  subjects 
of  ventilation  and  respiration. 

Let  us  be  patient  with  the  difficulties,  patient  with  the 
limitations  under  which  we  are  placed,  patient  with  our 
own  infirmities  and  conscious  perverseness,  patient  with 
ourselves,  even  when  we  find  occasion  to  be  humble  and 
penitent.  Let  us  prayerfully  endeavor  so  to  study  that 
we  may  find  deliverance  from  this  evil  and  bitter  thii 
which  then  we  shall  not  so  much  need  to  understand. 


PART    FIRST. 


CHAPTER  I. 
SIN    AS    AN    ACT. 

IN  this  simple  form  sin  is  first  revealed  to  us  in 
holy  Scripture.  In  this  form  we  first  know  it  in 
experience.  In  the  Bible  account  of  the  fall  of  man, 
the  word  sin  is  not  used,  but  that  is  there  first  pre- 
sented, to  which  this  name  is  given  in  the  subsequent 
Scriptures. 

To  Adam  and  Eve,  in  Paradise,  a  single,  plain  pre- 
cept was  given,  a  simple,  intelligible  prohibition, 
limiting,  in  only  one  particular,  the  liberty  of  action 
which  their  generous  Maker  accorded  to  them,  in  the 
midst  of  a  scene  in  which  He  had  provided  for  the 
otherwise  unrestricted  gratification  of  all  their  de- 
sires. This  divine  command  they  were  persuaded  to 
disobey.  They  did  disobey  it.  They  ate  the  forbid- 
den fruit. 

"  And  when  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and 
that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one 
wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof,  and  did  eat ;  and  gave  unto  her 
husband  with  her,  and  he  did  eat." — Gen.  iii.  6. 

I*  (9) 


io  Sin  and  Salvation. 

The  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism  states  the 
truth  with  admirable  brevity  and  precision,  in  its  an- 
swer to  Question  Fifteenth.  "  The  sin,  whereby  our 
first  parents  fell  from  the  estate  in  which  they  were 
created,  was  their  eating  the  forbidden  fruit."  It  is 
more  fully  stated  in  the  Larger  Catechism  (Q.  21), 
thus :  "  Our  first  parents,  being  left  to  the  freedom  of 
their  own  will,  through  the  temptation  of  Satan, 
transgressed  the  commandment  of  God,  in  eating  the 
forbidden  fruit,  and  thereby  fell  from  the  estate  of  in- 
nocency  wherein  they  were  created."  In  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  (Chap,  vi.),  the  fact  is  stated  thus: 
"  Our  first  parents,  being  seduced  by  the  subtilty  and 
temptation  of  Satan,  sinned  in  eating  the  forbidden 
fruit."  These  are  clear  and  candid  statements  of  the 
Bible  doctrine,  which  we  do  well  to  have  in  memory, 
and  often  to  meditate  upon. 

In  that  taking  and  eating  the  fruit  of  which  God 
had  said,  "  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it,"  was  exemplified, 
the  first  time  in  human  history,  the  act  of  transgres- 
sion. That  word  (transgression)  is  exceedingly  sig- 
nificant. It  is  a  going  over,  going  across.  Still 
more  exactly,  it  is  a  stepping  over.*  The  word,  when 
thus  carefully  examined,  carries  the  mind  to  the  nat- 
ural mode  of  locomotion  of  the  human  body,  by  the 
voluntary  movement  of  the  limbs.     It  is  not  a  flight, 


*  It  is  from  the  Latin — trans,  over,  and  gressus,  step. 


Sin  as  an  Act.  n 

nor  a  sliding,  but  a  distinct  stepping.  It  is  by  an  act 
of  the  will  that  the  foot  is  lifted  for  a  step.  It  is  by 
a  continuous  act  of  the  will  that  a  succession  of  steps 
is  made  to  produce  a  continuous  advance  in  any  di- 
rection. It  is  by  a  definite  act  of  the  will  that  a  foot 
is  lifted  on  one  side  of  a  line  to  which  attention  has 
been  called,  and  is  set  down  on  the  other  side  of  that 
line.  Thus  we  step  over  from  one  definite  region  or 
space  into  another. 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  experience,  to  come  to  a 
line,  to  step  across  which  involves  the  decision  of 
some  grave  question.  One  deliberates  at  such  a 
place;  holds  his  foot  suspended,  or  arrested  from  its 
previous  advance ;  considers,  whether  he  will  step 
across,  quite  aware  that  the  decision,  as  to  that  one 
step,  is  to  settle  the  question  and  determine  the  direc- 
tion of  the  future  progress. 

So  Julius  Caesar  paused  and  deliberated  on  the 
bank  of  the  Rubicon.  Determining  at  length  to  cross 
that  stream,  he  well  knew  that  he  determined  to  enter 
upon  a  contest  which  should  not  cease  until  his  power 
should  be  utterly  destroyed  or  he  should  become  mas- 
ter of  his  country.  The  fate  of  his  country  and  his 
own  place  in  history  were  to  be  decided  by  his  cross- 
ing that  stream,  or  by  his  deciding  to  turn  back,  and 
not  cross. 

So  has  many  a  fascinated  youth  paused  at  the 
threshold  of  that  house  which  is  "  the  way  to  hell  go- 


12  Sin  and  Salvation. 

ing  down  to  the  chambers  of  death."  His  whole 
future  hangs  on  his  decision,  whether  to  set  his  foot 
over  that  threshold.  Just  as  decisive  may  be  the 
stepping  through  the  door  of  a  drinking  saloon,  or 
stepping  behind  that  green  lattice,  where  one  may- 
drink,  and  wipe  his  mouth,  and  come  away  imagin- 
ing that  those  who  see  him  come  away,  do  not  know 
what  he  has  been  doing,  and  forgetting  that  God  saw 
all  the  time.  It  is  that  step  which  tells — the  one 
step  beyond  the  last  point  to  which  you  can  go 
safely  and  rightly — nay,  the  first  step  in  the  direction 
in  which  you  know  that  you  ought  not  to  go. 

Let  me  not  omit  to  say,  right  here,  that,  to  those  who 
have  gone  wrong  and  who  are  wrong,  a  step,  the  right 
way,  may  be  equally  decisive. 

Many  a  person  has  decided  his  whole  future  in  de- 
ciding whether  he  would  cross  the  threshold  of  a 
church,  upon  the  Sabbath,  or  enter  a  prayer-meeting, 
or  go  into  a  pastor's  study,  or  into  the  chamber  of  a 
pious  mother,  to  unbosom  himself,  in  that  holy  con- 
fidence, to  one  whose  sympathy  is  the  best  human 
help  toward  all  that  is  pure,  from  all  that  is  evil. 

Every  commandment,  issued  by  competent  author- 
ity, every  true  law,  is  a  line.  It  defines  a  region 
within  which  action  is  free,  and  beyond  which  it  is 
forbidden.  To  do  the  forbidden  action  is  to  cross 
over  that  line.     It  is  to  transgress. 

This  is  indeed  a  figurative  use  of  language.     It  is 


Sin  as  an  Act.  13 

the  expression  of  moral  truth  in  terms  and  figures  of 
mathematics,  of  geometry.  But  I  know  of  no  other 
terms  or  types  which  can  express  it  so  well.  Our 
customary  use  of  such  terms  as  rectitude,  uprightness, 
a  line  of  conduct,  etc.,  show  how  close  the  analogy  is, 
and  how  natural  the  connection  of  thought  between 
mathematical  and  moral  truth. 

Sin  as  an  act,  the  transgression  of  a  rule,  or  (vary- 
ing the  form  of  the  figure)  as  a  deviation  from  a  rule — 
it  is  in  this  form  that  sin  is  first  revealed  to  us  in  the 
Bible.  In  the  same  form  did  each  of  us  first  come  to 
the  knowledge  of  it  in  experience.*  . 

I  have  just  now  intimated  that  sin  may  be  more 
exactly  a  deviation  from  a  rule,  than  a  transgression 
or  going  across  it.  We  may  conceive  of  a  line,  not 
as  defining  a  space  out  of  which  we  may  not  step, 
but  as  indicating  a  direction  in  which  we  are  required 
to  go.  *  Every  step  must  be  on  that  line.  Every 
wrong  step  is  aside  from  it — a  deviation  rather  than 
a  transgression.  Yet  again,  we  may  think  of  the  line 
as  marking  the  limit  of  a  space,  over  the  whole  of 
which  we  are  required  to  go,  in  some  obedient  labor, 
as  in  plowing  a  field,  or  reaping  it.  The  faithful 
plowman  will  turn  his  last  straight  furrow  close  up  to 


*  It  is  not  here  affirmed  that  each  of  us  becomes  a  sinner,  as  Eve 
and  Adam  did,  by  deciding  to  do  a  thing  known  to  be  forbidden. 
But  it  is  when  first  distinctly  conscious  of  doing  such  a  forbidden 
or  wrong  thing,  that  we  get  our  first  distinct  idea  of  sin — first 
know  it. 


14  Sin  and  Salvation. 

that  line  as  carefully  as  he  will  restrain  the  hoofs  of 
his  team  or  the  sharp  plow-share  from  marring  the 
turf  on  the  lawn  beyond  that  line.  The  obedient 
reaper  will  see  to  it  that  he  leaves  no  stalks  standing 
within  the  boundary,  as  carefully  as  he  will  hold  back 
his  sickle's  point  from  encroaching  beyond  it. 

The  first  human  sin  was  in  the  form  which  I  first 
illustrated,  and  which  is  rightly  called  transgression. 
It  was  in  disobedience  of  a  law  which  prohibited 
something — a  law  which  did  not  require  an  action  to 
be  done,  but  required  that  a  specified  action  should 
not  be  done.  It  put  a  restriction  upon  Adam's  and 
Eve's  activity.  It  clearly  defined  one  action  which 
they  must  not  do.  "And  the  Lord  God  commanded 
the  man,  saying,  Of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou 
mayest  freely  eat ;  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it  :  for  in  the 
day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die." — ■ 
Gen.  ii.  15,  16. 

Their  doing  that  very  thing,  which  was  thus  plainly 
forbidden,  was  the  first  human  sin.  They  disobeyed 
that  precept.  They  transgressed  that  law.  They 
stepped  across  that  line. 

They  did  this  intelligently.  Eve  knew  what  she 
was  doing  when  she  plucked  the  fruit  and  ate  it  at 
the  wicked  instigation  of  the  tempter.  She  knew 
that  she  was  doing  exactly  what  her  Maker  had  for 
bidden  her  to  do.     The  same  was  true  of  Adam 


Sin  as  an  Act.  15 

when  Eve  gave  him  of  the  fruit,  "  and  he  did  eat." 
If  we  should  suppose  Eve  to  have  deceived  Adam  as 
to  the  fruit ;  if  it  was  undistinguishable  by  sight, 
or  touch,  or  smell,  from  other  fruit,  of  which  they 
might  freely  eat,  so  that  Adam  could  have  no  means 
of  distinguishing  it,  after  its  removal  from  the  tree  ; 
and  if  we  might  suppose  Eve  to  have  plucked  it,  and 
craftily  placed  it  among  other  fruit,  served  up  in 
her  customary  way,  in  their  bower,  while  Adam  knew 
no  reason  for  distrusting  her,  and  was  incapable  of 
distrusting  her  without  reason  ; — if  thus  the  man  had 
eaten,  not  knowing,  not  suspecting  that  it  was  the 
forbidden  fruit,  our  minds  could  not  attach  blame 
to  such  an  action,  nor  is  it  possible  to  believe  that  it 
would  have  drawn  after  it  such  disastrous  conse- 
quences. Adam  and  Eve  evidently  did  that  forbid 
den  thing,  knowing  just  what  they  were  doing.  They 
knew  that  they  were  eating  the  forbidden  fruit. 
Neither  did  Eve  deceive  Adam,  nor  had  the  serpent 
deceived  Eve  into  the  belief  that  it  was  the  fruit  of 
any  tree  of  which  they  were  allowed  to  eat. 

Not  only  did  they  know  that  it  was  forbidden  fruit, 
but  they  also  knew  that  the  prohibition  was  binding 
upon  them  ;  that  they  were  morally  bound  by  it  ; 
that  they  ought  to  obey  it.  That  sentiment  which 
we  express  by  the  word  ought,  was  in  their  minds  as 
it  is  in  ours,  and  they  knew  its  application  to  that 
action  to  which  they  were  tempted.    They  knew  that 


1 6  Sin  and  Salvation, 

to  disobey  God  was  wrong.  They  knew  that  they 
ought  to  obey  Him.  Whatever  view  we  take  of  the 
amount  and  variety  of  their  general  knowledge,  or  of 
their  intellectual  powers  and  condition  ;  whether  we 
suppose  them  possessing  intellects  fully  developed 
and  mature,  and  acquainted  with  science,  or  alto- 
gether childlike  in  attainments  and  capacities,  we 
have  no  reason  whatever  to  doubt  that  they  knew 
their  obligation  to  obey  God.  Their  vocabulary  may 
have  been  limited  ;  their  ability  to  express  moral 
ideas  in  words  may  have  been  small ;  they  may  not 
have  been  able  to  state  or  define  the  principles  which 
are  the  ground  and  basis  of  moral  obligation.  So  is 
the  little  child  now,  or  even  the  child  considerably 
advanced  in  the  knowledge  of  visible  things.  But 
can  you  remember  a  time  when  you  did  not  know 
that  you  ought  to  obey  your  parents  ?  Were  not 
you  just  as  sure  of  this — did  it  not  lay  hold  on  your 
conscience  just  as  decisively  before  you  learned  the 
Fifth  Commandment,  as  ever  it  did  afterward  ?  And 
as  soon  as  you  knew  of  God,  did  you  not  know  that 
you  ought  to  obey  Him  ?  It  is  not  possible  to  be  a 
child  capable  of  knowing  its  parents  ;  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  be  a  creature-  capable  of  knowing  its  God, 
and  have  any  honest  doubt  of  that  obligation. 

Adam  and  Eve  could  not  be  the  creatures  that 
God  made  them,  and  not  know  that  they  ought  to 
obey  Him.     They  did  know  that  to  do  what  He  had 


Sin  as  an  Act.  ij 

forbidden  was  wrong.  And  that  is  just  what  they 
did. 

They  did  it  voluntarily.  The  tempter  craftily  per- 
suaded :  he  had  no  power  to  compel.  If  he  had  so 
taken  possession  of  their  bodies,  as  to  deprive  their 
souls  of  all.  power  to  control  their  bodily  motions, 
and  thus  had  compelled  them  to  pluck  and  eat,  the 
muscular  motions  being  directly  and  decisively  con- 
trolled by  His  will,  and  not  by  theirs,  then  certainly 
we  should  say  that  this  was  properly  and  responsibly 
His  action,  and  not  theirs ;  He  did  it,  and  not  they. 
In  what  they  actually  did,  we  contemplate  an  action 
done  with  intelligence — i.e.,  with  knowledge  of  its 
real  character — and  done  voluntarily,  contrary  to  a 
command  of  known  obligation. 

This  is  well  stated  in  the  "  Westminster  Cate- 
chism "  :  "  Our  first  parents,  being  left  to  the  freedom 
of  their  own  will,  through  the  temptation  of  Satan 
transgressed  the  commandment  of  God  in  eating  the 
forbidden  fruit." 

It  seemed  good  to  God  to  test  our  first  parents  by 
a  law  which  was  a  simple,  single  prohibition.  If  He 
had  chosen  to  test  them  by  a  positive  precept,  doubt- 
less He  might  have  done  so.  If  He  had  set  them  a 
task  of  positive  labor,  within  the  compass  of  the 
powers  with  which  He  had  endowed  them,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  His  command  to  do  that  work  would  have 
been  just  as  binding  upon  them  as  was  that  single 


1 8  Sin  and  Salvation. 

prohibition  which  He  did  enact.  If,  for  example, 
He  had  bidden  them  prune  every  tree  of  the  garden, 
and  they  had  knowingly  and  purposely  neglected  to 
prune  some  one,  that  refusal  or  neglect  to  do  what 
God  had  commanded  would  have  brought  the  same 
blame  upon  them  as  their  actual  doing  of  what  God 
had  forbidden.  The  obligation  is  to  obey,  and  the 
guilt  of  disobedience  is  the  same,  in  whichever  direc- 
tion the  disobedience  may  be.  The  obligation  to  walk 
on  a  line  is  equally  violated  by  turning  to  the  right 
hand  or  to  the  left.  We  are  as  culpable  for  stopping 
short  of  the  line  which  limits  our  duty  or  our  di- 
vinely-commanded service,  as  for  going  across  the 
line  of  a  divine  prohibition.  A  creature  equally 
wrongs  his  Creator  by  doing  the  things  which  He 
has  forbidden,  and  by  leaving  undone  the  things 
which  He  has  commanded. 

If  until  this  moment  you  had  never  done  wrong — 
had  never  done  what  God  has  forbidden,  nor  failed 
to  do  anything  which  He  has  required  of  you — if 
now  there  were  right  before  you  a  line  which  you 
were  forbidden  to  cross,  and  you  were  about  to 
decide  the  question  of  crossing  —  what  an  awful  mo- 
ment this  would  be  !  How  breathlessly  would  all 
who  love  you  watch  you  !  With  what  feelings  would 
the  angels  look  down  on  a  human  soul  so  deliberating ! 

To  imagine  one  just  now  about  to  disobey  God, 
who    never  disobeyed    Him    before,   chills    our  very 


Sin  as  an  Act.  19 

hearts.  Is  it  less  dreadful  to  have  disobeyed  Him 
many  times  —  to  have  become  used  to  disobeying 
him  ?  No,  guilt  is  thus  ever  accumulating.  Every 
single  act  of  disobedience  has  its  own  distinct  culpa- 
bility. It  is  an  evil  and  bitter  thing  to  sin  against 
God  —  to  have  been  long  in  the  habit  of  sinning 
against  Him.  It  is  not  less  dreadful  because  habit 
makes  one  lose  the  painful  sense  of  it.  It  is  dreadful 
to  lose  the  sense  of  it.  It  is  more  dreadful  not  to 
be  willing  to  confess  it.  "  He  that  covereth  his  sins 
shall  not  prosper ;  but  whoso  confesseth  and  for- 
saketh  them  shall  have  mercy." 


CHAPTER  II. 
SIN    AS   A    STATE. 

WHEN  a  wrong  act  has  been  done,  forthwith 
the  soul  of  the  wrong-doer  is  in  a  wrong 
state.  It  immediately  knows  itself  to  be  in  a  wrong 
state.  Not  only  has  that  soul  sinned  :  it  now  is  a 
sinner.  The  act  of  sin  took  place,  and  has  passed. 
The  guilty  state  continues.  The  act  was  done  some 
time  ago  ;  the  guilt  of  it,  the  blame  of  it,  the  sinful 
state  of  soul,  abides. 

.  Whether  the  wrong  action  has  induced  the  wrong 
state,  or  has  sprung  out  of  it,  and  proves  that  it 
was  existing  before  ;  whether  the  wrong  action  is 
the  cause  of  the  evil  state,  or  the  evil  state  was  the 
cause  of  the  wrong  action — it  may  puzzle  us  to  de- 
cide. But  the  mind  knows  them  both  as  facts,  as 
realities.  It  has  no  doubt  about  this.  When  a  sinful 
deed  has  been  done,  a  sinful  state  exists.  Innocence 
is  gone.  The  soul  is  guilty.  This  is  now  its  fixed 
and  abiding  character. 

We  are  accustomed,  in  thought,  to  distinguish  the 
evil  state  of  the  soul,  which  underlies  its  bad  actions, 
from  the  actions  themselves.    When  one  of  whom  we 

have  had  a  favorable  opinion  disappoints  us  by  an 
(20) 


Sin  as  a  State.  21 

act  of  flagrant  wickedness,  we  not  only  are  shocked 
by  that  deed,  but  are  conscious  of  deeper  pain  at 
finding  him  capable  of  such  a  deed.  We  are  inclined 
to  infer  that  he  must  previously  have  been  in  a  state 
of  heart  different  from  what  had  appeared ;  an  evil 
state  from  which  such  an  evil  action  has  naturally 
proceeded,  or  which  has  been  an  adequate  cause  of  it. 
On  the  other  hand,  however,  we  are  equally  aware 
that  evil  deeds  voluntarily  committed  react  upon  the 
soul  which  commits  them,  making  its  evil  state  more 
evil  than  it  was  before,  or  (in  the  first  instance  of 
wrong  action)  changing  it  from  a  good  and  holy 
state  into  an  evil  and  sinful  one. 

THIS   STATE  BLAMABLE. 

For  this  evil  state,  or  disposition,  from  which  evil 
deeds  will  flow  as  surely  and  as  naturally  as  streams 
from  a  fountain,  or  as  rays  from  a  sun,  we  can  not 
help  blaming  the  subjects  of  it,  whether  ourselves  or 
others.  We  no  more  condemn  ourselves  or  our 
fellow-men  for  what  we  do  than  for  what  we  are. 
We  do  not  blame  Joseph's  brothers  for  not  speaking 
peaceably  to  him,  any  more  than  for  being  of  such  a 
disposition  that  they  "  could  not  speak  peaceably  to 
him."  We  blame  them  not  merely  for  doing  so  many 
wicked,  unbrotherly,  and  unfilial  things,  but  for  being 
such  mean  and  wicked  men  as  could  do  such  things; 
for  whom  it  was  natural  to  do  such  things. 


22  Sin  and  Salvation, 

THIS   STATE  .INEXPLICABLE. 

There  is  a  difficulty  here  which  puzzles  and  baffles 
the  philosophers.  None  of  them  satisfactorily  ex- 
plain it ;  none  of  us  understand  it.  Nevertheless 
the  voice  of  conscience  is  clear,  and  its  testimony  is 
sufficient  for  our  practical  direction.  You  may  be- 
wilder yourself  in  trying  to  tell  how  it  can  be  that 
you  are  to  blame  for  being  such  a  man  as  you  are. 
But  then  you  know  all  the  while  that  you  are  to 
blame  ;  you  feel  guilty.  We  all  know  that  we  not 
only  have  done  things  which  we  ought  not  to  have 
done,  but  that  we  are  such  persons  as  we  ought  not 
to  be.  That  solemn  word  "ought"  forces  its  way 
into  our  consciences  just  as  irresistibly  with  reference 
to  what  we  are  as  with  reference  to  what  we  have 
done.  Let  us  accept  the  self-evidexit  fact.  Let  us 
confess  the  situation  we  actually  are  in.  Let  us  bow 
down  under  the  self-condemnation,  in  deep  humility, 
in  absolute  submission,  and  in  confessed  helplessness, 
at  the  feet  of  our  divine  Judge  and  Sovereign.  Then 
only  are  we  in  the  proper  state  of  mind  to  hear,  if  He 
has  any  practicable  way  of  mercy  for  us  ;  to  inquire 
teachably  what  it  is  ;  and  thankfully,  trustingly  to 
accept  it.  Even  then  we  may  not  be  able  satisfac- 
torily to  expound  the  evil  out  of  which  the  hand  of 
Divine  Mercy  has  plucked  us.  Numbers  of  such 
rescued  men  have  applied  their  sanctified  intellects 


Sin  as  a  State.  23 

to  the  solution  of  this  problem  ;  some  of  them  have 
thought  that   they  had  solved  it ;   but  other  equally 
clear  and  candid  and  regenerate  minds  have  failed  to 
be  satisfied  with  every  proposed  solution.     For  ex- 
ample, in   our  present   actual   condition,  we  trace  a 
connection,  as  of  cause  and  effect,  between  our  sinful 
acts  and  our  sinful  state.     We  take  bad  actions  to  be 
evidences  of  a  bad  heart,  from  which  they  proceed. 
We  seem  to  have  our  Saviour's  sanction   of   this : 
"  For  out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  mur- 
ders,   adulteries,    fornications,    thefts,    false   witness, 
blasphemies." — Matt.  xv.   19.      "For  from  within, 
out  of  the  heart  of  men,  proceed  evil  thoughts,  adul- 
teries,   fornications,    murders,    thefts,    covetousness, 
wickedness,  deceit,  lasciviousness,  an  evil  eye,  blas- 
phemy, pride,  foolishness  :  all  these  evil  things  come 
from  within,  and  defile  the  man." — Mark  vii.  21-23. 
Assuming,  as  we  may,  that  our  nature  is  now  cor- 
rupt,  that    our  hearts  are  by  nature  evil,  we  then 
easily  account  for  all  the  evil  actions  of  which  we 
find  ourselves  guilty.     We  can  also  account  for  our 
present  possession  of  this  nature.    We  have  inherited 
it.     But  when  we  ask  how  the  nature  which  we  have 
inherited  became  corrupt,  having  been  perfectly  good 
in  the  beginning — when  we  attempt  to  account  for 
the  fall  of  our  human  nature  from  its  original  holi- 
ness— we  can  only  say  that  actual  sin,  the  first  human 
sin,  corrupted  the  human  nature  there,  at  its  very 


24  Sin  and  Salvation. 

source,  and  thence  in  all  its  streams.  But  now  we 
have  lost  our  hold  upon  our  previous  method  of  ac- 
counting for  the  actual  sin.  There  was  no  evil  nat- 
ure back  of  the  first  transgression  out  of  which  it 
could  proceed. 

Shall  we  try  to  account  for  this  by  referring  to  the 
temptation  of  Satan,  whereby  an  evil  element  was 
brought  into  the  human  nature  from  the  Satanic? 
It  is  doubtless  true  that  "  our  first  parents,  being 
seduced  by  the  subtilty  and  temptation  of  Satan,  sin- 
ned in  eating  the  forbidden  fruit."  But  does  this 
solve  the  difficulty  ?  Not  to  my  mind.  It  is  a  great 
marvel  to  me  how  an  evil  suggestion  from  an  evil 
being  could  get  any  hold  upon  a  pure  nature,  dwell- 
ing hitherto  in  communion  with  God,  and  in  perfect 
felicity.  And  if  I  waive  this  difficulty,  my  mind  will 
still  go  back  in  the  history  of  that  other  being,  the 
tempter.  I  ask  how  he  became  such  a  being?  How 
could  his  first  sin,  the  first  sin  in  the  universe,  the 
first  going  wrong  of  any  moral  agent,  take  place  when 
there  was  no  tempter  to  seduce;  no  evil  nature  to 
come  in  from  without  ?  Here  my  mind  confronts  a 
question  which  I  not  only  can  not  answer,  but  am 
sure  that  no  man  can  answer.  At  this  point,  I  be- 
lieve, we  all  find  ourselves  utterly  baffled  — all  who 
think  persistently  enough  to  come  up  to  this  point. 
The  advocates  of  all  theories,  when  they  come  to- 
gether here,  just  look  in  each  other's  faces  in  mute 


Sin  as  a  State.  25 

helplessness.  They  gather,  in  awed  silence,  about 
the  margin  of  a  deep  pit  down  which  they  gaze  with- 
out seeing  a  bottom  —  down  which  they  drop  their 
interrogatory  pebbles,  and  listen  in  vain.  No  sound 
comes  back. 

I  strongly  suspect  that  all  human  attempts  to  ex- 
plain sin  must  necessarily  fail.  Human  philosophy, 
the  human  mind  must,  I  believe,  at  last  confess,  that 
here  is  one  fact,  the  most  dreadful  fact  in  human  his- 
tory, which  it  can  not  account  for,  of  which  it  can 
give  no  rational  exposition.  I  believe  that  it  is  really 
contrary  to  all  true  philosophy  to  try  to  account  for 
sin.  I  believe  that  a  fallacy  lurks  in  every  attempt 
to  account  for  it.  For  what  do  we  mean  by  account- 
ing for  any  fact  ?  That  expression  has  no  propriety 
except  with  reference  to  a  nature  of  things — an  or- 
derly system,  in  which  things  are  coming  to  pass  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  that  system,  according  to  the 
rational  idea  of  him  who  constituted  the  system. 
Now  the  very  idea  of  sin  is  of  a  deviation  from 
rule.  It  is  a  violation  of  order.  We  sometimes 
speak  of  the  nature  of  sin,  but  not  properly ;  for  sin 
is  ^mature.  It  is  wholly  monstrous.  It  is  the  very 
negation  of  all  with  which  reason  and  philosophy  can 
deal.  Nature  hath  laws  ;  Nature  hath  order ;  Nature 
hath  harmony.  How  beautifully,  and  how  impressive- 
ly are  the  men  of  science,  in  our  time,  showing  this 
in  respect  to  physical  nature  in  all  its  vast  and  various 


26  Sin  and  Salvation, 

realms  !  Astronomy,  chemistry,  the  mighty  and  grand 
movements  of  the  worlds,  the  wondrously  precise  ad- 
justments of  the  elements  and  atoms  of  matter,  the 
absolute  obedience  to  law  in  the  formation  of  crystals, 
from  the  hard  and  durable  diamond  to  the  feathery 
and  fragile  snow-flake,  the  orderly  adjustment  and 
steady  transmission  of  vital  forces,  through  all  the 
multitudinous  species  and  varieties  of  plants  and  of 
animals — in  all  nature,  we  find  order,  harmony,  law. 
But  Sin  is  discord  ;  Sin  is  disorder ;  Sin  is  lawlessness. 
Am  I  not  right,  in  giving  up  all  attempts  to_account 
for  it,  and  in  dissuading  you  from  spending  any  of 
your  time  or  strength  in  such  attempts  ?  Is  it  not  a 
reasonable  opinion,  which  I  expressed,  that  all  human 
attempts  to  explain  sin  must  be  failures  ? 

ANOMY. 

There  is  an  old  English  word,  which  you  will  find 
in  the  dictionary,  but  marked  "  obsolete " — that  is, 
gone  out  of  use.  It  is  "Anomy."  I  almost  wish 
that  our  influential  writers  would  restore  it  to  our  cur- 
rent literature.  It  is  the  very  word  which  we  need  for 
translating  the  most  important  word  in  a  most  im- 
portant Bible  text.  I  refer  to  I  John  iii.  4,  "Whoso- 
ever committeth  sin,  transgresseth  also  the  law ;  for 
sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  law." 

In  the  Westminster  Catechism  (S.  C,  Q.  14)  this 
definition  of  sin  is  extended  thus:  "  Sin  is  any  want 


Sin  as  a  State.  27 

of  conformity  unto,  or  transgression  of,  the  law  of 
God."  This  is  not,  however,  such  an  extension  of 
the  Apostle  John's  definition  as  it  seems.  Our  En- 
glish version  does  .not  express  the  meaning  of  John's 
words  either  so  fully  or  so  accurately  as  it  is  express- 
ed in  the  catechism.  John  uses  there  the  Greek  word 
from  which  that  old  and  now  obsolete  English  word 
was  formed.  In  the  Greek  it  is  "  anomia  " — the  En- 
glish form  of  which  is  anomy.  In  the  Greek  language, 
the  word  for  law  is  nomos,  and  that  letter  (a)  prefixed 
to  a  word  has  the  same  effect  upon  its  meaning  which 
the  syllable  un,  prefixed  to  a  word,  has  in  our  language. 
It  just  reverses  the  meaning,  or  takes  the  previous 
meaning  out  of  the  word.*  Anomy  then  is  unlaw. 
And  the  Apostle  John  says  that  sin  is  anomy.  The 
whole  verse  translated  by  means  of  that  word,  would 
be,  "  Every  one  who  doeth  sin,  doeth  anomy,  and  sin 
is  anomy."  An  able  scholar,  Dr.  Bloomfield,  in  his 
notes  on  the  Greek  Testament,  has  this  comment  on 
this  phrase :  "  For  sin  is  *  the  transgression  of  the 
law,'  or  a  lawless  conduct.  Whatsoever  in  any  degree 
exceeds,  comes  short  of,  or  deviates  from  the  law,  and 
in  thought,  word,  or  deed,  is  not  perfectly  coincident 
with  it,  is  sin — a  violation  of  the  law." 

A  thorough  study  of  that  word  in  John's  Epistle 
fully  justifies  the  definition  of  sin  in  the  catechism, 


*  Notice  the  similar  formation  and  import  of  "atrophy  " 


28  Sin  and  Salvation. 

which  includes  want  of  conformity  to  the  law,  as  well 
as  transgression  of  it.  Not  only  so,  I  think  that  it 
confirms  the  view  I  have  expressed  of  sin,  as  an  un 
explainable,  unaccountable,  anomalous  fact.* 

Sin  is,  however,  no  less  real,  nor  is  it  any  less  dread- 
ful, because  it  is  inexplicable.  A  shape  is  not  the 
less  horrible, 

"  If  shape  it  may  be  called,  that  shape  hath  none, 
Distinguishable  in  member,  joint,  or  limb." 

Surely  this  inexplicableness  of  sin,  the  dark,  impene- 
trable mystery  in  which  it  is  enveloped,  ought  to 
make  us  dread  it,  and  hate  it  all  the  more,  and  be  all 
the  more  anxious  and  earnest  to  escape  from  it. 

If  we  were  living  in  some  low  valley  in  which  the 
air  was  found  to  be  charged  with  deadly  malaria, 
would  we  keep  our  homes  there  because  no  chemist 
could  detect,  by  any  careful  analysis,  the  hurtful  ele- 
ment, or  because  no  careful  observation  and  study  of 
the  soil  beneath,  or  hills  around,  or  streams  or 
marshes,  or  prevailing  winds,  could  show  us  whence 
the   mysterious  deadliness   comes?     Would    not  we 


*  President  McCosh  closes  a  profound  note,  on  this  topic,  with 
these  words  :  "  That  in  ethics,  as  in  a  thousand  questions  of  physics, 
we  must  often  rest  satisfied  with  knowing  the  fact  without  knowing 
its  origin,  ground,  or  explanation."  "  The  Divine  Government,"  p. 
378.  I  also  find  this  remark  in  Lange's  "  Commentary  on  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,"  p.  330  :  "  Only  after  the  accomplished  vic- 
tory over  evil  can  the  deep,  dark  enigma  of  evil  ....  be  fully 
solved." 


Sin  as  a  State. 


29 


first  of  all  build  our  homes,  far  up  the  hill-sides,  or 
on  their  breezy  summits,  postponing  our  study  of  the 
nature  and  causes  of  the  sickness,  until  our  own 
blood  and  brains  should  be  free  from  it? 

If  we  had  fallen  into  the  midst  of  a  bottomless  and 
shoreless  sea,  and  should  persist  in  an  effort  to  fathom 
it,  or  by  the  vigor  of  our  own  muscles  to  swim  out  of 
it,  we  must  inevitably  perish  in  the  vain  and  foolish 
attempt.  But  floating  for  a  moment,  on  that  wide 
and  awful  desolation,  we  might  clearly  see  the  calm 
heaven  over  us ;  and  if  we  saw  also  a  ladder,  let  down 
from  its  serene  height,  even  into  the  wave  at  our  side 
— surely  then  we  would  not  turn  away  our  eyes  from 
its  golden  steps  and  the  beckoning  angels,  down  into 
the  dark  and  hopeless  depth  beneath. 

Verily,  verily,  we  human  sinners  are  afloat  on  a 
shoreless  and  bottomless  sea.  Left  to  ourselves,  we 
shall  toss  and  shiver  here  for  a  little  while,  and  then 
go  hopelessly  down.  But  we  are  not  left  to  ourselves. 
We  do  indeed  "  see  heaven  open,  and  the  angels  of 
God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of  Man.' 


CHAPTER  III. 
SIN    AS    DISEASE. 

THERE  is  a  very  intimate  connection  between 
sin  and  bodily  disease.  They  are  found  to- 
gether, a  great  deal,  in  human  experience.  Christ  is 
revealed  as  the  great  deliverer  from  both.  The 
prophet  Isaiah,  the  "evangelical  prophet,"  prophet 
of.  glad  tidings,  foretelling  the  Great  Deliverer, 
represents  Him  as  suffering,  in  our  place,  that  which 
must  be  suffered  for  our  sins.  He  speaks  of  Him 
as  bearing  the  heavy  load  of  our  griefs  and  sor- 
rows, not  merely  as  a  sympathizing  friend,  but  as  our 
substitute,  judicially  considered.  This  is  made  plain 
by  the  expressions,  "  Wounded  for  our  transgressions, 
bruised  for  our  iniquities";  and  by  the  declaration, 
that  the  "  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  laid  upon 
Him."  The  doctrine  of  expiation  for  human  guilt  is 
there  clearly  taught.  Yet  even  in  such  connection  the 
idea  of  healing  is  present  to  the  prophet's  mind.  He 
finds  it  natural  to  say,  "  And  with  His  stripes  we  are 
healed." 

The  Evangelist  Matthew,  in  quoting  this  prophetic 
declaration  of  Christ's  relation  to  human  sin,  cites  the 

prophet  as  saying :    "  Himself   took  our  infirmities. 
(30) 


Sin  as  Disease,  31 

and  bare  our  sicknesses  " ;  as  if  to  His  inspired  mind 
bearing  our  sicknesses,  and  being  bruised  for  our  ini- 
quities, were  equivalent.  The  Apostle  Peter,  with 
evident  reference  to  the  same  prophetic  passage,  repre- 
sents Christ  as  having  borne  our  sins,  for  their  expia- 
tion, that  He  might  rescue  us  from  the  morbid  spirit- 
ual condition,  and  restore  a  new,  healthy,  holy  life 
within  us,  "  that  we  being  dead  to  sins,  should  live 
unto  righteousness."  The  only  phrase  which  he 
quotes  literally  from  Isaiah,  is  the  one  which  makes 
the  idea  of  healing  prominent,  "  by  whose  stripes  ye 
were  healed." 

Our  Lord  himself,  in  that  instance  of  exercising 
His  healing  power  which  Matthew  has  recorded 
(Chap.  ix.  vs.  1-7),  proceeds  in  a  manner  peculiarly 
adapted  to  impress  us  with  the  close  connection,  in 
his  mind,  between  sin  and  sickness.  A  man  sick  of 
the  palsy,  a  helpless  paralytic,  is  brought  to  Him  on 
a  bed,  by  friendly  persons  who  have  faith  in  Jesus' 
power  and  disposition  to  heal  him.  "Seeing  their 
faith,"  the  Lord  is  willing  to  grant  their  desire.  But 
it  shall  not  be  merely  a  material  benefit,  a  physical 
relief,  a  bodily  healing.  He  compassionately  beholds 
more  than  the  body  burdened  with  infirmity,  even 
the  soul  loaded  with  guilt.  He  looks  through  the 
diseased  frame,  and  beholds  the  sinful  soul ;  and  He 
directs  the  healing  word  within,  to  the  center  and 
source  of  the  poor  man's  trouble.     "  Thy  sins  be  for 


32  Sin  and  Salvation. 

given  thee,"  is  the  word  of  relief  to  the  sufferer,  and 
of  offence  to  the  skeptical  lookers-on.  From  their 
cold  censure  the  Lord  vindicates  His  power  to  forgive 
sins,  by  visibly  demonstrating  His  power  over  disease. 
The  paralytic  leaps  up  and  walks  home,  in  their 
sight.  A  healed  soul  is  enabled  to  uplift  an  infirm 
body,  not  only  from  its  prostrate  position,  but  out  of 
its  morbid  condition.  By  one  and  the  same  mighty 
word,  the  man  is  pardoned  and  is  healed. 

What  is  disease  f  It  is  dis-ease.  You  are  familiar 
with  the  grammatical  force  of  that  syllable  dzs,  pre- 
fixed to  any  word.  Dis-own,  dis-qualify,  dis-regard, 
dis-locate,  dis-franchise — all  these  words  express  the 
opposite  of  that  which  the  several  terms  would  signi- 
fy without  that  prefix.  The  first  idea  then  which  the 
word  dis-ease  should  suggest,  is  the  opposite  of  that 
which  is  conveyed  by  the  word  ease.  By  ease  we 
mean  "  freedom  from  pain,  disturbance,  trouble."  So 
Webster  defines  it,  and  so  your  mind  thinks  it.  It  is 
a  condition,  or  state,  which  is  desirable,  on  account 
of  the  absence  of  what  is  unpleasant.  It  does  not 
necessarily  imply  any  positive  enjoyment,  but  freedom 
from  suffering,  and  an  opportunity  for  enjoyment  to 
be  super-added.  Dis-ease  should  then  imply  the 
cessation  of  that  condition,  or  its  change  into  a  con- 
dition in  which  one  is  a  sufferer.  It  implies  pain,  dis- 
turbance, or  trouble.  But,  in  use,  this  word  (as  is  very 
common  in  human  language)  settles  to  a  deeper  mean- 


Sin  as  Disease,  $?> 

ing.  It  goes  down  below  the  fact  or  phenomenon 
which  it  first  designates,  to  the  cause  of  it.  By  the 
term  disease,  the  physician  now  does  not  mean  the 
pain  or  distress  which  his  patient  feels,  but  that  con- 
dition of  his  bodily  organs  which  causes  the  dis- 
tress. 

The  painful  throbbing  which  you  feel  in  your  head, 
or  the  sense  of  oppression  or  suffocation  in  your 
breast,  is  dis-ease,  or  dis-comfort — disease,  in  the 
primary  sense  of  the  word — but  your  physician  re- 
gards this  as  only  a  symptom  or  sign  of  the  real  dis- 
ease, which  he  calls  congestion.  This  means  the  heap- 
ing together  of  an  excessive  amount  of  blood,  gorg- 
ing and  straining  its  natural  channels,  thereby  caus- 
ing the  discomfort,  the  pain,  which  you  suffer.  The 
organs  are  working  wrong.  The  heart  is  beating  too 
fast ;  it  is  pumping  the  blood  too  rapidly  ;  it  is  strain- 
ing and  stretching  the  blood-vessels ;  they  swell  and 
redden ;  the  healthy  vital  warmth  is  unhealthily  in- 
creased to  hot  inflammation,  to  fiery  fever ;  and  as, 
when  one  member  suffers,  all  the  members  suffer  with 
it,  soon  the  whole  body  is  sick — the  whole  man  groans 
and  labors  with  pain. 

This  is  all  because  something  has  gone  wrong,  in 
this  curious  bodily  frame.  Some  law  of  its  constitution 
has  been  violated.  There  is  some  anotny,  some  trans- 
gression of,  or  want  of  conformity  unto,  a  physical 
law,  the  rule  by  which  the  physical  action  should  be 


34  Sin  and  Salvation. 

regulated,  and  only  in  conformity  to  which  it  can  be 
healthy  and  happy. 

You  do  not  need  a  doctor  to  tell  you  that  all  such 
wrong  working  of  bodily  organs  not  only  gives  pres- 
ent pain,  but  works  lasting  damage  to  the  organiza- 
tion itself ;  gets  it  into  a  morbid  (7.  e,,  a  diseased)  con- 
dition. If  the  car-wheels  are  thrown  off  the  track. 
and  run  jolting  over  stones  and  timbers,  not  only 
will  the  passengers  suffer  painful  thumping  and  bruis- 
ing, but  the  wheels  themselves  are  likely  to  be  broken, 
the  axles  bent,  or  other  parts  of  the  machinery  dam- 
aged. If  you  thrust  hard  leather  into  your  family 
sewing-machine,  or  force  its  irregular  motion,  when 
its  bands  or  screws  are  not  rightly  adjusted,  or  when 
it  creaks  for  lack  of  oil,  you  not  only  must  bear  the 
present  fatigue'  of  such  hard  work,  but  must  expect 
to  find  your  machine  permanently  injured  or  dis- 
ordered. 

Here  is  another  word,  sometimes  used  as  equivalent 
to  disease.  It  is  formed  in  the  same  way — dis-order. 
It  suggests  at  once  the  idea  of  derangement  or  dis- 
arrangement. It  is  the  putting  out  of  an  orderly 
arrangement  of  something  which  had  been  rightly 
arranged  or  disposed.  Dis-order  in  any  of  the  bodily 
organs,  as  to  their  location  or  as  to  their  action,  gives 
pain,  and  works  damage,  deterioration,  perhaps  dis- 
solution of  the  organs  themselves.  The  organs  of 
the  human  body,  as  truly  as  the  wheels  and  bands 


Sin  as  Disease.  35 

and  springs  of  the  most  delicate  machine,  must  be  in 
that  shape  and  condition  and  order  which  the  maker 
of  it  intended,  and  must  act  regularly  (i.  e.,  according 
to  the  rule  which  he  intended),  or  else  suffering  and 
disease  will  result.  The  human  body  is  a  machine, 
the  most  delicate  and  the  most  perfect  that  exists  on 
earth.  A  Corliss  engine,  or  a  Hoe's  printing-press, 
or  an  Elgin  watch,  is  not  to  be  compared  to  it.  The 
human  body  is  a  most  exquisite  machine.  It  is  not 
only  that.  It  is  something  more  and  greater ;  but 
it  is  that,  notwithstanding.  The  human  body  is  a 
machine  that  is  alive  ;  that  has  a  soul  in  it.  The 
soul  is  not  in  the  body  merely  as  the  inhabitant  is  in 
the  house  ;  not  merely  as  the  engineer  is  in  the 
engine.  The  soul  and  body  of  man  are  united  to 
constitute  him.  Man  is  not  merely  a  body  that  has 
a  soul,  nor  yet  a  soul  that  has  a  body.  Man  is  a 
body  and  soul  in  a  real,  though  inexplicable  union. 
I  do  not  wish  to  entice  you  into  any  unpractical  or 
unnecessary  refinements  ;  but  I  do  wish  you  to  recog- 
nize the  evident  truth  that  you  exist,  body  and  soul, 
in  a  real  union  of  these,  far  more  intimate  than  any 
which  can  be  affirmed  of  the  house  and  its  inhabitant 
or  of  the  machine  and  him  who  works  it.  And  I 
desire  that  what  you  know  and  feel  of  disorder  and 
disease  in  your  bodily  organization  may  help  you  to 
a  true  apprehension  of  the  disorder  and  disease  of 
soul  which  sin  produces  and  which  sin  really  is.     I 


$6  Sin  and  Salvation, 

would  fain  quicken  our  minds  unto  a  livelier  sense  of 
what  is  so  variously  and  abundantly  set  forth  in  the 
Bible  on  this  subject.  It  will  help  us  to  this,  if  we 
consider  it — 

i.  With  reference  to  our  natural  desires.  Desire, 
or  longing  for  a  real  good — the  wish  to  obtain  and 
possess  that  good — belongs  to  the  human  constitu- 
tion, no  doubt,  as  God  originally  designed  and  made 
it.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  a  rational  creature  could 
be  active  and  responsible — could  be  capable  of  enjoy- 
ment and  capable  of  character — without  this  element. 
It  is  equally  evident,  however,  that  it  is  an  element 
which  needs  to  to  be  subjected  to  regulation  and 
restraint.  It  is  always  the  irregular  indulgence  of 
desire  which  moves  to  sin  as  an  act.  The  woman 
took  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  because  she 
"  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food  and  pleasant 
to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  wise." — 
Gen.  iii.  6. 

Says  the  Apostle  James :  "  Then  when  lust  hath 
conceived,  it  bringeth  forth  sin." — J  AS.  i.  15.  The 
word  "  lust "  here  translates  the  same  Greek  word, 
which  is  elsewhere  sometimes  translated  "desire." 
That  it  does  not  necessarily  imply  sin,  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  word  in  which  Luke 
records  our  Lord's  own  expression  :  "  With  desire  I 
have  desired  to  eat  this  passover  with  you  before  I 
suffer." — LUKE  xxii.    15.     At   present,  we   do   not 


Sin  as  Disease.  $7 

commonly  use  the  word  lust  in  a  good  sense,  but 
apply  it  to  desires  which  ought  not  to  be  indulged, 
or  to  unlawful  indulgence  of  desires. 

Closely  related  to  both  these  words  is  the  word 
appetite,  which  implies  desire,  and  suggests  a  posi- 
tive impulse  to  seek  or  strive  after  that  which  will 
satisfy  it.  We  commonly  apply  this  to  objects  which 
afford  bodily  gratification,  but  not  always.  "  An 
appetite  for  power,"  would  be  admitted  as  good 
English,  although,  doubtless,  it  would  seem  to  most 
readers  as  a  figurative  expression,  like  "  thirst  for 
gold."  It  is  easy  to  see  that  unregulated  desires  at 
once  create  disorder.  A  mind  whose  desires  do  not 
submit  to  proper  regulation  is  as  certainly  a  diseased 
or  disordered  mind  as  that  is  a  disordered  or  diseased 
body  whose  organs  are  not  regular  in  the  discharge 
of  their  functions.  It  is  a  matter  of  plain  and  com- 
mon observation  that  indulging  any  desire  wrongly 
usually  increases  its  strength,  and  makes  it  more  dif- 
ficult to  restrain  or  regulate  than  it  was  before.  It 
becomes  excessive  in  its  force  and  urgency.  It  is 
morbid.  It  may  be  compared  to  the  too  rapid  beat- 
ing of  the  heart,  and  its  effects  to  congestion  in 
any  bodily  organ.  Such  wrong  and  unlawful  indul- 
gence does  not  therefore  lose  its  quality  of  blama- 
bleness ;  but  it  is  best  for  us  to  see  and  to  study 
this  other  quality  of  morbidness.  If  this  needed 
illustration,  we  might  readily  find  it  in  the  desire  for 


38  Sin  and  Salvation. 

intoxicating  drink  which  so  terribly  tortures  and 
enslaves  its  victims.  If  you  have  never  felt  the 
power  of  that  appetite  in  yourself,  God  grant  you 
may  be  forever  kept  from  it  by  total  abstinence 
from  that  which  excites  it.  But  doubtless  you  have 
had  occasion  to  witness  its  terrible  power  over  some 
one  in  whom  you  are  interested — perhaps  some  one 
in  whom  you  are  so  tenderly  interested  that  it  has 
caused  "  a  sword  to  pierce  through  your  own  soul 
also."  We  can  not,  with  the  Bible  open  before  us, 
regard  the  drunkard  as  only  unfortunate.  It  is  not 
best  for  him  to  forget  that  he  is  guilty  ;  that  the 
bondage  he  is  in  is  a  bondage  for  which  he  should  be 
ashamed  and  penitent  ;  that  God  is  indeed  angry 
with  him.  Notwithstanding  all  that,  .his  sin  is  also 
disease.  It  has  deranged  and  disordered  his  faculties 
of  body  and  of  mind  —  of  both  in  their  intimate 
union. 

So  is  it  with  all  desires  unlawfully  indulged.  That 
unlawful  indulgence  perverts  them  ;  exaggerates 
them  ;  inflames  them.  They  become  unnatural,  and 
are  liable  to  become  monstrous. 

2.  With  reference  to  the  wilL  I  am  not  going  to 
plunge  into  the  metaphysical  mystery  of  the  will.  I 
purpose  no  subtle  distinctions.  I  would  only  speak  of 
what  every  one  may  easily  observe  and  know.  Every 
one  does  know  that  to  desire  a  thing  and  to  will  it, 
are  not  the  same.     You  have  a  will-power  by  which 


Sin  as  Disease.  39 

you  can  refuse  to  gratify  your  own  desires,  especially 
your  appetites.  You  may  see  luscious  and  tempting 
fruit,  and  say,  "  I  will  not  take  it."  You  may  strongly 
desire  to  lie  too  late  in  your  bed,  and  may  say,  "  I  will 
arise  and  gird  myself  to  my  labor."  Now  this  will- 
power— this  power  to  govern  our  desires,  and  not  be 
governed  by  them — is  as  certainly  weakened,  as  the 
desires  themselves  are  strengthened,  by  wrong  indul- 
gence of  them.  This  is  a  dreadful  effect.  This  takes 
the  life  out  of  a  soul.  Under  this  influence  character 
perishes  ;  manhood  perishes  ;  the  soul  perishes.  This 
is  to  the  soul,  what  the  disorganization  of  the  spine  is 
to  the  body." 

3.  With  reference  to  Conscience.  Avoiding  all  meta- 
physical subtleties  here  also,  I  include  under  the  term 
conscience,  our  whole  ability  to  distinguish  between 
right  and  wrong,  and  our  whole  sensibility  in  respect 
to  this  distinction.  "  The  moral  sense"  is  an  expres- 
sion sometimes  used  to  convey  substantially  the  same 
meaning.  Bodily  sense  (which  is  a  power  of  the  soul 
exercised  in  and  through  the  body)  distinguishes  be- 
tween hard  and  soft ;  between  hot  and  cold  ;  between 
sweet  and  bitter;  between  differing  qualities  or  powers 
of  material  things.  It  also  gives  us  the  consciousness 
of  being  variously  affected  by  those  various  qualities 
or  powers — of  being  hurt  or  stopped  by  that  which  is 
hard  ;  of  being  rested  upon  that  which  is  soft ;  of  be- 
ing chilled  by  cold  and  comforted  by  moderate  heat, 


40  Sin  and  Salvation. 

or  tortured  by  an  excess  of  it ;  and  of  pleasure  or  dis- 
gust with  things  which  are  sweet  or  bitter,  delicious 
or  nauseous. 

The  moral  sense  in  like  manner  discriminates  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  and  affects  us  with  pleasure  or 
pain,  self-approval  or  remorse,  according  as  we  are  or 
are  not  in  conformity  with  our  own  judgment  of  right. 

Certainly  there  is  no  other  part  of  our  constitution 
so  important  as  this — no  other  in  which  our  original 
likeness  to  our  Maker  is  so  manifest.  To  have  this 
perverted — to  have  its  power  to  discriminate  enfee- 
bled or  distorted,  or  to  have  its  sensibility  deadened — 
I  can  think  of  no  other  so  dreadful  calamity.  Does 
this  happen  ?  Has  it  happened,  in  greater  or  less  de- 
gree, to  all  of  us  ?  Let  each  soul  answer  this  ques- 
tion to  itself,  and  to  God.  If  in  any  soul  there  is  in- 
difference to  this  question — if  any  soul  does  not  care 
about  its  own  condition  in  this  respect, — I  can  not 
think  of  any  more  decisive  evidence  that  the  soul  has 
lost  the  healthy  sensibility  of  conscience.  The  spirit- 
ual condition  of  a  man  who  does  not  care  about  this, 
who  is  indifferent  to  it,  is  like  the  bodily  condition  of 
a  man  who  does  not  care  how  near  you  hold  a  burn- 
ing coal  to  his  hand,  or  who  would  not  know,  if  you 
should  thrust  a  needle  into  his  flesh.  Why  is  it  that 
you  can  not  find  a  place  on  all  your  body  into  which 
you  can  carefully  push  the  finest  needle,  without  mak- 
ing you  start  and  scream?     It  is  because  the  nerves, 


Sin  as  Disease.  41 

in  which  is  the  power  of  feeling,  are  spread  all  over 
the  body,  fine  threads  woven  so  closely  that  your 
needle  will  not  go  between ;  it  will  hit  a  nerve  before 
it  goes  far  into  the  flesh.  Anatomists  call  this  the 
nervous  system.  It  is  in  this  that  we  are  alive,  or 
"quick"  according  to  the  old  English  expression, 
found  in  old  books,  like  our  English  Bible.  "  Quick  " 
indeed,  how  expressive !  But  our  nerves  may  lose 
that  mysterious  power.  They  may  become  incapable 
of  warning  us  of  the  dangerous  nearness  of  the  fire ; 
incapable  of  reporting  to  us  the  damaging  puncture 
of  the  needle  or  cut  of  the  knife. 

Do  you  know  what  paralysis  is?  Did  you  ever 
wake  up  in  bed,  and  find  that  one  arm  had  been  lying 
under  your  body  or  in  some  constrained  posture,  till 
it  had  become  numb ;  there  was  no  feeling  in  it ;  you 
could  hardly  tell  where  it  was,  and  when  the  other 
hand  found  it,  and  touched  it,  it  did  not  feel  like  your 
own  hand  ?  How  briskly  you  rubbed  it,  and  lifted  it 
about !  Perhaps  you  sprang  out  of  bed,  and  bathed 
it  with  cold  water,  or  cold  air,  or  spirits  of  camphor. 
When  the  circulation  of  blood  was  restored,  and  the 
natural  sensibility  returned,  you  lay  down  again,  and 
composed  yourself  to  sleep  with  a  lively  joy  and 
thankfulness.  You  got  a  new  impression  of  the  rap- 
ture with  which  the  paralytics  of  Galilee  and  Judea 
used  to  rise  and  take  up  their  beds,  at  the  word  of 
Jesus. 


42  Sin  and  Salvation. 

How  would  you  like  an  arm  that  has  no  feeling  in 
it — that  might  be  pricked,  or  cut,  or  burnt,  or  crushed, 
without  hurting  you?  You  would  be  then  forever 
safe  from  that  kind  of  pain.     How  would  you  like  it  ? 

How  would  you  like  a  conscience  that  will  not  hurt 
you  when  you  do  wrong?  a  conscience  as  indifferent 
to  sin,  as  a  paralyzed  arm  might  be  insensible  to  the 
touch  of  ice  or  of  a  coal  of  fire  ? 


CHAPTER  IV. 
SIN  AS  SEPARATION  FROM  GOD. 

THERE  is  no  more  impressive,  no  more  fearful 
view  of  sin,  in  the  Scriptures,  than  this  of  sepa- 
ration, alienation,  departure  from  God. 

Immediately  after  the  first  human  transgression 
was  consummated,  our  first  parents  showed  a  desire 
to  get  away  from  God,  to  conceal  themselves  from 
Him.  Although  so  little  is  recorded  of  God's  actual 
verbal  communication  with  Adam  and  Eve,  in  their 
innocence  (Gen.  i.  28-30;  ii.  16,  17),  it  is  enough  to 
justify  the  inference,  that  there  was  then  pleasant 
and  happy  intercourse  between  Him  and  them. 
They  were  not  afraid  of  Him.  Their  sense  of  His 
presence  with  them  made  them  happy.  The  thought 
that  His  eye  was  upon  them  gave  them  neither 
shame  nor  solicitude.  The  sound  of  His  voice  did 
not  alarm  them,  but  rejoiced  them.  In  nothing 
could  they  be  more  painfully  conscious  of  the  change 
which  their  act  of  transgression  had  wrought  in  them- 
selves, than  in  their  changed  feelings  toward  God. 
Now  His  voice  startles  them — terrifies  them — makes 
them  <=hrink,  and  shiver,  and  hide.  They  are  conscious 
that  the  happy  connection  between  their  own  spirits 

(43) 


44  Sin  and  Salvation. 

and  the  Father  of  spirits  is  broken.  There  is  a  break 
between  them  and  Him  —  a  separation.  They  are 
away  from  God,  to  whom  they  have  beforetime 
been  so  near;  and  how  strange  it  seems  that  the 
immediate  effect  of  this  is  to  make  them  wish  to  get 
farther  away — as  far  away  as  they  can ! 

Ages  afterward,  the  patriarch  Job,  describing  the 
prosperous  wicked  men,  the  worldlings  of  his  time, 
says  :  "  They  say  unto  God,  Depart  from  us  ;  for  we 
desire  not  the  knowledge  of  thy  ways."  He  put 
into  these  plain  words  what  they  perhaps  would  not 
thus  speak,  but  what  they  said  by  their  habitual 
behavior,  by  "  actions,  which  speak  louder  than 
words."  No  form  of  words  could  more  adequately 
express  the  habitual  feeling  of  those  who  find  their 
pleasure  in  wickedness.  Without  reasoning  about 
it,  without  distinctly  thinking  about  it,  they  instinct- 
ively shrink  from  God ;  they  take  no  pleasure  in  the 
thought  of  His  presence  with  them ;  they  would 
gladly  be  out  of  His  presence  ;  they  would  gladly 
have  nothing  to  do  with  Him. 

Still  later,  the  prophet  Isaiah  —  commissioned  to 
address  God's  people,  concerning  their  unhappy 
spiritual  condition,  a  condition  in  which  they  felt 
that  God's  hand  did  not  reach  them,  to  bestow  gifts 
and  benediction,  as  aforetime — assures  them  that  this 
is  not  because  His  arm  is  shortened,  or  His  ear 
heavy,  "  But  your  iniquities  have  separated  between 


Sin  as  Separation  from  God.  45 

you  and  your  God,  and  your  sins  have  hid  his  face 
from  you." — ISA.  lix.  I,  2. 

Paul,  writing  to  those  in  Ephesus,  who  had  been 
converted  from  dismal  idolatry,  referring  to  their 
former  evil  and  forlorn  state,  reaches  the  very  climax 
of  his  powerful  description,  when  he  declares  that 
they  were  "  without  God  in  the  world." — Eph.  ii.  12. 

We  may  get  a  more  just  impression  of  this,  by 
noticing  the  contrast  of  it  with  an  opposite  spiritual 
condition,  which  is  represented  in  Scripture  by  an 
opposite  figure. 

Of  that  antediluvian  saint,  who  so  pleased  God 
that  He  would  not  let  him  "taste  of  death,"  but 
translated  him,  the  pregnant  record  is — "  And  Enoch 
walked  with  God."*  When  Abraham  "sojourned  in 
Gerar,"  and  had  for  some  time  been  observed  by 
King  Abimelech  and  his  chief  captain,  they  said  to 
Abraham,  "  God  is  zvith  thee  in  all  that  thou  doest."f 
When  God  revealed  Himself  to  Jacob  at  Bethel, 
speaking  down  to  him  from  the  top  of  that  wondrous 
stair-way  up  and  down  which  he  saw  the  angels  going, 
in  the  promise  which  God  there  made  to  him,  noth- 
ing else  seems  so  precious  as  that  which  is  expressed 
in.  the  words,  "  I  am  with  thee"%  When  Joseph  had 
been  sold  by  his  brethren,  and  unjustly  disgraced  and 
imprisoned  in  Egypt,  he  was  not  unhappy,  for  "  the 


*  Gen.  v.  24.  f  Gen.  xxi.  22.  %  Gen.  xxviii.  1.  5, 


46  Sin  and  Salvation, 

Lord  was  with  him."*  To  be  with  God  —  to  have 
God  with  us —  expresses  the  happiest,  the  most 
blessed  condition  possible  for  finite  spirits. 

Sin  breads  this  happy  connection  of  the  soul  with 
God.  Sin  separates  the  soul  from  God.  Sin  is  sepa- 
ration or  departure  from  God. 

Let  us  try  to  understand  the  true  and  full  import  of 
this.  The  terms  separation  and  departure  are  pri- 
marily terms  of  matter  and  of  space.  To  depart  is 
to  go  or  remove  from  one  point  or  location  to  an- 
other ;  to  separate  is  to  remove  one  body  or  one 
part  of  a  body  from  another — to  remove  two  bodies 
or  two  parts  of  a  body  in  opposite  directions,  or  to 
remove  one,  leaving  the  other  where  it  was.  A  per- 
son departs  from  a  place  or  from  another  person, 
when  he  goes  away,  i.e.,  removes  himself  to  some 
other  place.  Two  persons  are  separated  when  a  ma- 
terial barrier  {e.g.,  a  wall)  is  placed  between  them 
through  which  they  can  not  have  communication,  or 
when  they  are  placed  at  such  a  distance  from  each 
other  that  they  can  not  have  communication.  Empty 
space,  if  there  be  enough  of  it,  is  as  effectual  a  barrier 
as  a  granite  wall. 

By  an  easy  and  natural  process  our  minds  pass 
from  this  primary  meaning  of  these  terms,  in  their 
application  to  matter,  to  an  intelligible  application  of 


*  Gen.  xxxix.  21. 


Sin  as  Separation  from  God.  47 

them  to  spirits.  There  may  be  other  than  material 
barriers  between  two  persons,  effectually  preventing 
communication  between  them  —  at  least  all  happy 
communication — while  their  bodies  are  near  together, 
and  no  wall  or  even  so  much  as  a  curtain  is  between 
them.  Two  souls  may  be  conscious  of  mutual  aver- 
sion or  mutual  repulsion.  These,  also,  are  terms  pri- 
marily applied  to  matter  and  space.  Aversion  is 
turning  away ;  repulsion  is  driving  apart,  or  driving 
back.  How  significant  we  all  feel  these  terms  to  be  of 
that  of  which  we  are  conscious  in  being  brought  into 
the  presence  of  one  whom  we  dislike — who  is  uncon- 
genial !  To  be  attracted  to  a  person — to  be  repelled 
from  a  person  —  these  expressions  are  as  readily 
understood  as  the  same  terms  are  understood  when 
applied  to  a  magnet,  or  to  an  elastic  ball  rebounding 
from  a  hard  surface.  We  all  feel  the  significance  of 
them  so  readily  that  attempts  to  explain  them  would 
be  superfluous. 

What  is  it  that  draws  two  souls  together?  What 
is  it  that  drives  two  souls  apart  ?  It  is  impossible  to 
answer  this  without  knowing  the  character  of  the 
souls.  Says  a  classical  Roman  writer :  "  To  like  and 
to  dislike  the  same  things,  this  is  firm  friendship." 
The  fact  that  two  persons  like  the  same  things, 
and  dislike  the  same  things,  is  proof  that  they  are 
alike  in  their  tastes.  Attracted  to  the  same  things, 
repelled  by  the  same  things,  they  must  have  the  same 


48  Sin  and  Salvation. 

susceptibilities  toward  those  objects.  It  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  they  will  be  drawn  to  each  other.  But 
when  one  likes  what  the  other  dislikes — when  one's 
attraction  is  the  other's  aversion — how  can  they  be 
kept  together?  They  may  be  violently  forced  into 
bodily  proximity ;  but  no  force  can  bring  their  minds 
together,  or  overcome  their  mutual  repulsion. 

To  be  not  attracted  to  a  good  being — to  be  repelled 
from  him — what  does  it  show  ?  The  infinitely  good 
Being,  infinite  in  "  wisdom,  power,  holiness,  justice, 
goociness,  and  truth  " — to  be  averse  to  Him,  to  dis- 
like Him,  to  shrink  from  Him,  to  desire  to  hide  from 
Him,  to  say  to  Him,  "  Depart  from  us ;  we  desire  not 
the  knowledge  of  thy  ways  " — what  must  all  this 
show  in  respect  to  the  spiritual  state  of  those  in  whom 
all  this  is  experienced  ?  Such  is  the  spiritual  state 
which  sin  naturally  induces  ;  such  is  the  spiritual  state 
of  sinners.  It  is  proper  and  truthful  to  say,  that  sin 
is  aversion  to  God,  separation  from  God,  departure 
from  God. 

But  God  is  "  the  Father  of  our  spirits."  We  have 
derived  our  being  from  Him ;  and  only  by  His  con- 
tinual upholding  can  we  continue  to  exist.  "  In  Him 
we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being."  We  can  not 
really  go  away  from  Him.  "  Whither  shall  I  go  from 
thy  Spirit,  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence  ? 
If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there ;  if  I  make 
my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there.     If  I  take  the 


Sin  as  Separation  from  God.  49 

wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  sea ;  even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me, 
and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me." — Ps.  cxxxix.  7- 
10.  It  is  impossible  to  go,  even  in  thought,  any- 
where beyond  God.  There  is  nowhere  beyond  Him, 
nowhere  where  He  is  not.  How  wretched  then,  and 
how  hopeless  is  that  creature  who  can  not  be  happy 
where  God  is ;  who  would  like  to  find  a  place  beyond 
Him  ;  would  like  to  go  utterly  away  from  Him  !  To 
dwell  in  the  same  house,  to  eat  at  the  same  table,  to 
occupy  the  same  chamber,  to  be  constantly  in  com- 
pany with  one  whom  you  dislike,  from  whom,  how- 
ever near  your  bodies  may  be,  your  soul  turns  away 
in  aversion — what  a  weary  and  loathed  life  that  would 
be !  To  know  yourself  the  creature  of  God,  living 
and  moving  and  having  your  being  in  Him,  and  to 
have  that  in  you  which  is  most  offensive  to  Him,  and 
the  necessary  effect  of  which  upon  you  is  to  make 
you  turn  from  Him  in  utter  aversion  : — can  you  think 
of  any  other  so  great  misery  ?  Sin  is  just  that.  Un- 
checked, uncured,  it  goes  steadily  on  to  that.  It  is, 
in  its  completion,  utter  and  hopeless  estrangement 
from  God.  And  in  all  less  degrees  it  proportionately 
mars  the  soul's  relations  to  God ;  proportionately 
alienates  or  estranges  the  soul  from  God. 

We  have  before  considered  sin  with  reference  to 
law ;  and  have  found  that  any  deviation  from  the  law 
of  God,  any  want  of  conformity  to  it,  is  sin,  as  really 
3 


50  Sin  and  Salvatio7i. 

as  any  direct  and  positive  transgression.  We  found 
the  old  and  obsolete  word  anojny,  or  un-law,  expressive 
of  it.  But  what  is  law?  Is  it  not  the  expression  of 
the  will  of  God?  Whatever  variety  of  theories  there 
may  be,  in  respect  to  the  ultimate  principle  of  moral 
obligation — however  some  may  think  that  God's  will 
constitutes  right,  and  others  may  insist  that  there  is 
an  eternal  right  to  which  God's  will  spontaneously 
conforms,  and  that  therein  is  its  excellence — surely 
the  latter  no  less  than  the  former  hold  and  insist  that 
the  actual,  expressed  will  of  God  evermore  is  perfect 
law,  a  perfect  and  infallible  rule  to  all  His  rational 
creatures.  To  be  or  to  do  wrong,  then,  is  inevitably 
to  be  at  variance  with  God.  All  will  agree  to  this, 
who  believe  in  God  at  all — all  who  are  not  atheists. 

And  what  a  dreadful  thing  it  must  be,  to  be  an 
atheist !  I  have  conversed  with  a  man  who  earnestly 
repelled  the  imputation  of  atheism ;  who  considered 
it  an  affront  to  be  called  an  atheist,  and  yet  he  said 
that  he  did  not  know  whether  there  is  any  God  or 
not.  He  would  hold-the  term  atheist  to  the  definition, 
"  one  who  disbelieves  or  denies  the  existence  of  a 
God  "  ;  and  so,  as  he  neither  denied  nor  affirmed,  he 
would  not  be  called  by  that  name.  It  is  not  worth 
while  to  dispute  about  that  definition,  though  I  can 
not  help  agreeing  with  those  writers  who  think  that 
it  would  be  a  more  exact  use  of  terms,  to  call  all  who 
do  not  positively  believe  in  God,  atheists,  and  to  call 


Sin  as  'Separation  from  God.  5 1 

those  who  positively  disbelieve,  or  who  deny  that 
there  is  a  God,  anti-theists.  But  what  I  now  ask  you 
to  consider  is  the  forlorn  condition  of  both  those 
classes*  of  minds — call  them  atheists,  or  anti-theists, 
or  call  them  by  whatever  name  they  themselves  may 
wish  to  be  called  by — people  who  have  no  positive 
belief  in  God — who  can  not  say,  "  Our  Father  which 
art  in  heaven,"  and  put  any  real  meaning  into  the 
dear  phrase.  How  much  more  dismal  is  it,  after  all, 
to  be  an  orphan,  and  to  know  that  you  are,  than  not 
to  know  whether  you  are  an  orphan  or  not  ? 

In  one  of  the  passages  of  Scripture  which  I  have 
cited  (Eph.  ii.  12),  Paul  speaks  of  some  "having  no 
hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world."  The  word 
which  Paul  used,  and  which  is  translated  "  without 
God,"  is  aSeoi,  (atheoi),  which  to  even  an  English  ear 
sounds  like  atheists.  It  is  formed  by  prefixing  to  the 
Greek  word  for  God  that  which  (as  I  have  before  ex- 
plained) has  the  same  effect  as  the  syllable  "  un  "  pre- 
fixed to  any  word  in  our  language.  They  were  people 
who  had  no  God.  The  word  godless  might  express 
this,  just  as  the  word  fatherless  expresses  the  idea  of 
one  who  has  no  father.  It  has  come  to  pass,  how- 
ever, in  our  usage,  that  godless  means  un-godly.  We 
apply  it  not  so  commonly  to  those  who  do  not  be- 
lieve that  there  is  a  God,  as  to  those  who  do  not  obey 
Him  ;  who  act  as  if  they  did  not  care  for  Him  ;  as  if 
they  did  not  £are  whether  there  is  any  God  or  not. 


52  Sin  and  Salvation. 

After  all,  is  there  not  a  natural  connection  between 
this  intellectual  darkness,  and  this  moral  recklessness  ? 
It  is  not  exemplified  in  every  individual.  There  are 
some  amiable  men,  some  kind-hearted  and  fair-d-ealing 
men,  men  of  clean  lips  and  lives,  whose  minds  are 
obscured  by  atheistic  doubts,  or  pantheistic,  which 
are  not  very  different.  And  there  are  men  who  have 
no  doubt  about  the  real  being  of  God,  who  live  very 
badly,  very  godlessly.  They  are  not  governed  in 
their,  lives  by  their  theism;  not  governed  by  their 
own  view  of  what  God  requires,  or  of  what  would  be 
pleasing  to  Him.  This  I  admit,  and  yet  I  am  con- 
fident that  all  must  regard  this  as  anomalous,  and 
that  it  is  much  more  natural  and  much  more  common 
for  atheistic  unbelief  to  be  associated  with  moral  reck- 
lessness. I  do  not  so  much  think  that  speculative 
atheism  causes  moral  recklessness  as  that  it  is  caused 
or  produced  by  it.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  works 
both  ways ;  but  I  think  that  moral  recklessness  more 
evidently  and  more  often  leads  to  atheism,  than  it 
springs  out  of  it.  "The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart, 
there  is  no  God,"  most  frequently,  when  he  has  wish- 
ed that  there  were  none — when  the  thought  of  a  holy 
and  just  Being  above  him,  who  hates  sin,  has  made 
him  afraid.  Loving  sin,  he  would  fain  believe  that 
there  is  no  God  to  punish  sin.  So  sin  alienates  from 
God ;  makes  the  sinner  averse  to  God ;  makes  him 
dislike  God ;  makes  him  disbelieve  in  Him.     Nor  do 


Sin  as  Separation  from  God.  53 

I  believe  that  this  effect  is  confined  to  those  cases  in 
which  there  is  a  conscious  desire  or  endeavor  to  dis- 
believe. Sin  naturally  works  in  the  soul  this  ill  effect, 
an  estrangement,  an  alienation,  a  departure  of  the 
soul  from  God.  I  might  have  adduced  this  as  a  phase 
of  the  disease,  which  I  affirmed  sin  to  be,  and  it  is  a 
terrible  phase  of  it.  Is  there  any  more  terrible  morbid- 
ness of  mind,  than  that,  so  often  exemplified,  in  insan- 
ity ;  the  strong,  sometimes  deadly,  aversion  to  those  who 
before  were,  and  who  still  deserve  to  be,  most  loved 
and  trusted?  Our  comfort  in  such  cases  is  in  the 
hope  that  the  delirium  will  be  temporary ;  that  the 
insane  delusion  will  pass  away,  "  as  a  dream  when  one 
awaketh."  What  wreck  and  ruin  would  it  be,  to  have 
such  an  alienation  last  forever ! 

This  delirium  of  sin,  this  morbid  alienation  of  mind 
from  God  which  sin  is — there  is  danger  that  it  will  last 
forever.  There  is  a  liability  of  being  given  up  to  it  hope- 
lessly. To  those  who  persist  in  saying,  by  their  actions, 
to  God,  "  Depart  from  us ;  we  desire  not  the  knowk 
edge  of  thy  ways,"  the  time  is  coming,  when  God 
— even  God,  the  Redeemer  who  is  now  saying  so 
graciously,  "  Come  unto  me," — will  say,  "  Depart  from 
me."  Nor  can  there  a  more  dismal  doom  fall  on  any 
finite  spirit.  To  go  away  from  God,  away  from 
Christ,  away  from  light,  away  from  holiness,  away 
from  peace,  away  from  hope,  "wandering  stars,  to 
whom  is  reserved  the  blackness  of  darkness  forever  " ! 


54  Sin  and  Salvation. 

All  sin  tends  that  way.  A  sinful  character,  kept, 
at  length  inevitably  snaps  asunder  every  cord  that 
binds  to  good ;  at  length  nullifies  every  attraction 
that  holds  to  hope  and  to  God. 

Do  not  risk  it.  "Seek  the  Lord,  while  he  may  be 
found ;  call  upon  him,  while  he  is  near." 


CHAPTER  V, 

SIN  AS  A  N  INHERITANCE. 

TO  inherit  anything  is  to  receive  it  by  descent 
from  an  ancestor — to  receive,  as  his  heir,  that 
which  has  been  the  property  of  another,  usually  an 
ancestor.  An  inheritance  is  whatever  is  or  may  be 
inherited,  whatever  is  derived  by  an  heir  from  an 
ancestor.  We  usually  apply  it  to  property  or  rank, 
or  something  which  is  valuable.  Under  our  Amer- 
ican laws,  children  inherit,  in  equal  portions,  the 
property  left  by  parents  at  their  death,  unless  by  the 
will  of  the  parents  some  different  distribution  or  dis- 
posal is  made.  In  some  other  countries  the  eldest 
son  inherits  much  more  than  an  equal  share  of  an 
estate ;  and  in  countries  where  rank  is  hereditary,  it 
descends  in  the  line  of  the  first-born.  We  do  not, 
however,  wholly  confine  these  terms  to  valuable  pos- 
sessions. They  may  be  applied,  intelligibly  and  with- 
out impropriety,  to  whatever  a  person  naturally  has, 
because  his  parents,  or  either  of  them,  had  it. 

Thus  children  are  said  to  inherit  either  the  honor 
or  ^the  shame  of  parents ;  .they  inherit  their  good  or 
their  bad  dispositions ;  they  inherit  health  or  disease 
— a  sound  and  vigorous  or  a  morbid  and  feeble  phys- 

(55) 


56  Szn  and  Salvation. 

ical  constitution.  The  kindred  word  hereditary  is 
perhaps  oftener  used  in.  this  wider  meaning.  Cer- 
tainly we  speak  not  only  of  hereditary  property  and 
hereditary  rights,  but  of  "  hereditary' pride,  hereditary 
bravery,  hereditary  disease." 

All  this  comes  naturally  from  the  hereditary  man- 
ner in  which  we  have  our  being.  There  would  be 
nothing  of  this  sort  in  a  world  fully  peopled  at  once 
by  creative  power,  peopled  with  mature  creatures — 
all  equals  in  age,  and  all  having  derived  their  being 
directly  from  God.  Existing  as  we  in  fact  do,  in 
successive  generations,  each  transmitting  its  life  to 
the  succeeding,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  many 
incidents  and  liabilities  of  being  and  life  would  be 
transmitted  also.  This  is  the  evident  fact,  and  it  is 
recognized  in  the  Scriptures. 

The  begetting  of  offspring  by  the  first  man  is  said 
to  have  been  "  in  his  own  likeness,  after  his  image." 
That  first  man  having  become  a  sinner,  being,  after 
his  first  act  of  sin,  evermore  in  a  state  of  sin,  it  is 
solemnly  written  in  the  New  Testament,  that  "  by 
one  man,  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by 
sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all 
have  sinned."  It  is  also  written  that  "  by  one  man's 
offense  death  reigned  by  one "  ;  and  that  "  by  one 
man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners." 

We  here  enter  a  region  of  thought,  in  which  per- 
plexing questions  spring  up  very  thickly,  a  region 


Sin  as  an  Inheritance,  57 

too  in  which  there  has  been  much  theological  contro 
versy.  It  is  not  at  all  my  purpose,  however,  to 
engage  in  any  such  controversy ;  for  I  remember 
Paul's  charge :  "  That  we  strive  not  about  words  to 
no  profit,  to  the  subverting  of  the  hearers." — 2  TlM. 
ii.  14.  I  seriously  think  that  very  much  of  the  the- 
ological controversy  which  has  arisen  on  the  subject, 
has  been  just  such  "  striving  about  words "  as  that 
against  which  Paul  in  that  text  warns  us.  I  wish  to 
bring  forward  certain  facts,  revealed  in  Scripture  or 
attested  by  our  own  consciousness  or  observation* 
i.  e.,  by  our  observation  of  others  and  of  ourselves. 
I  propose  a  serious  study  of  such  facts  : 

I.  It  is  an  evident  fact  that  we  do  inherit  mental 
and  moral  characteristics  from  our  parents,  as  truly 
as  physical  characteristics.  We  as  confidently  look  for 
resemblances  of  children  to  their  parents  in  mind 
and  manners,  in  disposition  and  character,  as  in  stat- 
ure, in  features,  and  in  complexion.  "  Like  begets 
like,"  is  a  received  maxim,  which  has  its  fulfillment 
not  oftener  nor  more  strikingly  in  respect  to  the 
body  than  in  respect  to  the  soul.  Personal  beauty, 
agility,  strength  on  the  one  hand,  and  personal  ugli- 
ness, infirmity,  or  deformity  on  the  other,  are  often 
hereditary.'  No  one  will  dispute  this  ;  and  I  think  it 
will  almost  as  readily  and  generally  be  admitted  that 
strength,  regularity,  or  soundness  of  mind,  and  weak- 
ness, disorder,  or  perversity  of  mind,  are  hereditary 

3* 


58  Sin  and  Salvation, 

also.  We  have  these  various  characters  as  our  par 
ents  had  them,  and  because  they  had  them,  quite  as 
evidently  in  our  souls  as  in  our  bodies.  We  need 
not  exaggerate  this.  We  ought  not.  Education  can 
doubtless  greatly  modify  natural  traits  of  character. 
So,  also,  can  physical  training  do  much  to  modify 
physical  characteristics.  We  are  not  able  always 
accurately  to  discriminate  what  education  has  done 
for  us  from  what  we  have  by  nature  and  from  birth. 
But  certainly  no  candid  and  careful  observer  will 
'doubt  that  it  makes  at  least  as  real  a  difference  to  us, 
from  what  parents  we  derive  our  being,  as  by  what 
nurses  and  teachers  we  are,  brought  up.  However 
we  may  magnify  the  importance  of  education,  the 
power  of  example,  etc.,  none  of  us  can  wholly  rid 
our  minds,  if  we  would,  of  the  thought  expressed  in 
the  terse  maxim,  "  Blood  tells." 

2.  It  is  equally  certain  that  what  we  thus  inherit 
from  our  parents  is  not  altogether  the  same  which  it 
would  have  been  if  our  parents  had  not  been  sinners. 
Filial  love  and  dutifulness,  no  doubt,  incline  and 
require  us  to  turn  our  eyes  away  from  our  parents' 
faults,  and  not  to  cherish  or  indulge  censorious 
thoughts  of  them.  But  what  wise  and  honest  par- 
ent would  wish  his  child  to  believe  him  free  from 
faults  ?  What  thoughtful  parent  is  able  to  doubt 
that  begetting  a  child,  "  in  his  own  likeness,  after  his 
image,"  he  transmits  to  him  unhappy  and  bad  traits 


Sin  as  an  Inheritance.  59 

of  character.  There  can  nothing  be  gained  by  shut- 
ting our  eyes  to  this.  It  is  a  fact  that  we  all  have 
inherited  evil  from  our  parents,  and  do  transmit  evil 
to  our  children ;  not  only  physical  evil,  pertaining  to 
our  bodies,  but  moral  evil,  pertaining  to  our  char- 
acter. 

3.  It  is  a  fact,  that  this  evil  inheritance  has  come 
down  to  us,  through  all  the  generations  of  mankind, 
all  the  sad  way  from  Adam  and  Eve.  This  is  clearly 
enough  attested  in  the  Bible.  From  its  narrative  of 
the  fall  of  our  first  parents  by  eating  the  forbidden* 
fruit,  in  all  its  account  of  mankind,  in  their  successive 
generations,  it  carries  all  along  the  plain  assumption  , 
that  mankind  are  naturally  inclined  to  evil ;  that, 
as  a  race,  they  are  fallen  away  from  God.  The  uni- 
versal idea  is,  that  like  begets  like ;  that  every  living 
creature  produces  offspring  after  its  kind.  The  con- 
stant proclivity  to  sin  of  children  is  accounted  for  by 
their  descent  from  parents  having  the  same  procliv- 
ity. And  when,  in  the  New  Testament,  an  inspired 
apostle  is  treating  of  this  deep  question,  he  clearly 
affirms  the  universal  sinfulness  of  mankind,  and  as 
clearly  ascribes  the  sad  fact  to  the  sin  of  Adam  as  its 
cause. — Rom.  v. 

4.  Another  fact  in  the  case  is,  that  sin  does  not 
lose  its  proper  character  by  being  hereditary.  It 
does  not  cease  to  be  sin,  by  being  accounted  for,  in 
the  way  we  have  seen,  any  more  than  virtue  ceases 


60  Sin  and  Salvation, 

to  be  virtue  by  being  accounted  for  in  the  same  way. 
I  have  made  acquaintance  with  some  persons  whose 
character  greatly  pleased  me.  When  I  have  ex- 
pressed such  pleasure,  in  some  instances,  to  persons 
knowing  them,  I  have  been  told  that  the  same  char- 
acter was  notably  exemplified  in  their  parents,  whom 
I  never  saw.  My  informants  have  not  expected  nor 
desired  thus  to  abate  from  my  satisfaction  with  such 
characters.  They  have  not  expected,  nor  wished 
that  I  should  less  highly  esteem  an  industrious,  hon- 
est, amiable  man,  by  reason  of  being  informed  that 
his  father  before  him  was  just  such  a  man.  Such 
information  accounts  for  my  neighbor's  possession  of 
a  noble  character,  but  does  not  alter  it,  nor  alter  any 
one's  estimation  of  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  you  know  an  unamiable, 
lazy,  dishonest  man,  do  you  dislike  him  less,  or  blame 
him  less,  or  estimate  him  any  more  favorably,  be- 
cause you  know  him  also  to  be  "  a  chip  of  the  old 
block,"  a  worthless  child  of  a  worthless  father  ?  No  ; 
character  is  character  still,  however  acquired.  The 
mysterious  law  by  which  the  character  of  a  parent 
goes  so  far  to  determine  what  the  child's  character 
shall  be,  does  not  thereby  change  or  affect  the  nature 
of  character.  Character  is  evermore  personal.  Re- 
sponsibility is  evermore  in  the  individual. 

There  have  been  attempts  to  obscure  this,  in  order 
to  evade  responsibility,  and  such  attempts  have,  I 


Sin  as  an  Inheritance,  6 1 

fear,  been  aided  by  some  theological  speculations. 
There  have  been  affirmations  of  personal  responsi- 
bility for  the  sin  of  Adam,  in  each  individual  of  his 
posterity,  which  the  Scriptures  do  not  warrant,  and 
to  which  our  natural  consciences  do  not  respond  ; 
and  I  can  not  help  thinking  that  this  has  made  it 
easier  for  some,  reversing  the  process  of  thought,  to 
throw  off  from  themselves,  in  part,  the  sense  of 
responsibility  for  their  own  sins  —  to  throw  it  back 
upon  ancestors  from  whom  they  have  inherited 
sinful  dispositions  or  inclinations. 

This  isrsignally  and  sharply  rebuked  by  the  Prophet 
Ezekiel.  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  me 
again,  saying,  What  mean  ye,  that  ye  use  this  proverb 
concerning  the  land  of  Israel,  saying,  The  fathers 
have  eaten  sour  grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are 
set  on  edge  ?  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  ye 
shall  not  have  occasion  any  more  to  use  this  proverb 
in  Israel.  Behold,  all  souls  are  mine ;  as  the  soul  of 
the  father,  so  also  the  soul  of  the  son  is  mine  :  the 
soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die." — Ez.  xviii.  1-4. 

-Likewise,  in  the  New  Testament,  the  same  inspired 
writer  who  has  spoken  most  strongly  of  the  disastrous 
consequence  of  the  first  man's  sin  to  his  entire  race, 
says,  in  the  very  tone  of  Ezekiel :  "  So  then  every 
one  of  us  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God." — 
Rom.  xiv.  12. 

This  organic  unity  of  the  family  and  of  the  race 


62  Sin  and  Salvation. 

does  not  obliterate  nor  confuse  the  sharp  and  clear  dis- 
tinctions of  personal  responsibility.  Each  individual 
of  the  race  must  answer  for  himself  to  God  for  all  that 
he  does,  and  must  be  estimated  by  God  for  just  what 
he  is,  in  his  distinct  individuality,  no  less  distinctly 
and  no  less  solemnly,  than  if  he  were  the  only  respon- 
sible creature  in  existence.  This  thought  clearly  held, 
as  the  Bible  plainly  and  solemnly  and  abundantly 
teaches,  and  as  our  own  consciences  testify,  should  pre- 
vent us  from  perverting  the  facts  concerning  our  in- 
heritance of  sin  to  the  confusion  of  our  ideas  of  respon- 
sibility, or  the  blunting  of  the  sense  of  responsibility. 
Yet  we  should  not  overlook  those  facts.  They  are  of 
solemn  import.  The  scriptural  view  of  them  will  go 
far  to  make  us  appreciate  the  wretchedness  of  the 
spiritual  condition  in  which  we  are  by  nature,  and 
the  infinite  importance  of  being  divinely  delivered 
from  it.  For  certainly,  the  more  correctly  we  appre- 
hend this  truth,  the  more  fully  shall  we  know  that 
there  can  be  no  human  deliverance. 

The  fact  is,  that  this  entire  race  is  a  sinful  race. 
Not  merely  the  individual  man  Adam  and  the  in- 
dividual woman  Eve  did,  each  of  them,  an  act  of 
sin,  and  thereby  fell  into  a  state  of  sin  ;  but  that 
pair,  who  then  were  all  mankind ;  that  pair  from 
whom  all  mankind  were  to  descend,  begotten  and 
born  "  in  their  likeness,  after  their  image,"  fell  by 
their  sin  from  the  estate  in  which  they  were  created. 


Sin  as  an  Inheritance.  63 

That  fall,  that  loss,  that  breaking  away  from  God, 
was  an  immense  calamity  to  the  race.  Adam  and 
Eve,  when  they  sinned  and  fell,  were  the  whole  race, 
the  only  embodiment  of  this  human  nature.  It 
lapsed  into  moral  ruin  in  them,  and  it  is  in  us,  all 
their  posterity,  what  it  became  in  them. 

Shall  I  blame  God  for  constituting  the  human 
nature  thus,  under  such  an  awful  and  infinite  lia- 
bility ?  "  Shall  the  thing  formed  say  to  Him  that 
formed  it,  Why  has  thou  made  me  thus  ?  " 

With  God's  assurance  that  I  shall  answer  to  Him 
for  only  my  own  sins,  and  with  the  consciousness, 
which  I  can  never  lose,  that  my  sins  are  responsibly 
only  my  own,  it  would  be  rash  indeed  in  me  to  criti- 
cise His  construction  of  my  being.  But  beyond  this, 
it  seems  evident  to  me  that  God  has  manifested  a 
most  wise  benevolence  in  constituting  us  as  He  has, 
and  giving  us  such  a  wonderful  connection  with  each 
other,  in  the  unity  of  the  human  race.  - 

Certainly  the  solemn  social  liability  to  be  so  fear- 
fully affected  by  each  other,  is  closely  connected 
with  a  social  opportunity  that  is  unspeakably  precious. 

When  tempted  to  murmur  at  the  exposure  to 
which  my  relation  to  others  has  subjected  me,  I  have 
asked  myself,  Would  I  willingly  be  exempt  from  this 
exposure  ?  Would  I  willingly  have  all  human  rela- 
tions and  human  susceptibilities  so  changed  that  no 
one  could  suffer  for  the  sin  of  another?     Would  I 


64  Sin  and  Salvation. 

willingly  be  so  made,  that  it  would  make  no  differ- 
ence to  me  how  my  father,  my  brother,  my  child 
should  behave?  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  would  I 
choose  to  have  the  nature,  the  heart  of  my  child,  my 
brother,  my  wife  such  that  my  committing  some, 
great  crime  would  bring  no  pain,  no  shame,  no  harm  to 
them  ?  Nay,  verily,  if  there  is  anything  in  our  nature 
for  which  we  should  thank  Him  who  so  made  us,  it 
is,  that  He  has  made  us  so  much  to  each  other ;  that 
He  has  so  made  us  that  we  so  largely  live  not  only 
for  each  other,  but  in  each  other.  Sooner  far  would 
I  have  all  sensibility  gone  from  my  right  arm,  to 
secure  me  from  the  liability  of  pain  from  hurting  it, 
than  be  deprived  of  all  this  sensitiveness  of  affection, 
to  escape  pain  and  harm  from  the  wrong-doing  of 
those  I  love.  Yes,  I  deliberately  say  it ;  I  am  glad 
and  thankful  that  I  am  so  united  to  others  in  this 
mysterious  solidarity  of  life  that  the  wrong-doing  of 
one  of  them,  the  loss  of  character  in  one  of  them, 
would  give  me  unspeakable  pain.  I  would  rather 
bear  any  pain  which  my  heart  can  bear,  than  be  the 
monster  I  must  be,  if  I  could  not  feel  such  pain. 
Yes,  and  on  the  other  hand,  my  love  for  those  I  love 
best  does  not  make  me  wish  them  to  be  exempt  from 
suffering  from  any  wrong-doing  into  which  I  might 
be  successfully  tempted.  I  should  be  sorry  not  to 
feel  sure  that  loss  of  character  in  me  would  give  un- 
speakable pain  to  those  in  my  home,  and  to  many 


Sin  as  an  Inheritance.  6  s 

more.  Surely  I  should  be  impoverished  of  my  richest 
treasures  if  assured  that  such  a  disaster  to  me  would 
distress  none  but  me.  I  have  no  fear  that  any  one 
will  deem  this  a  selfish  feeling;  for  certainly  I  can 
see  no  way  in  which  we  could  be  exempted  from 
this  social  liability,  except  by  making  each  of  us 
utterly  selfish,  utterly  incapable  of  social  affection. 
Thank  God,  He  has  not  made  us  so.  Thank  God 
that  .such  social  union,  such  union  of  interests,  of 
feelings,  of  hearts  is  possible  and  actual,  in  human 
homes,  in  human  society,  in  human  life.  We  would 
not  give  up  this  glorious  possibility,  even  to  escape 
the  dreadful  attendant  liability. 

But  it  would  be  very  foolish  not  to  regard  this 
liability.  Through  this,  our  entire  race  has  fallen 
into  an  abyss  of  sin  and  misery,  out  of  which  we  can 
never  climb.  By  nature,  we  are  in  fact  a  ruined  race. 
Nature  has  no  salvation  for  us.  Nature  has  broken 
under  us,  like  an  iron  bridge,  and  we  have  all  fallen 
into  a  chasm  up  whose  icy  sides  not  one  of  us  can 
climb.  We  all  went  down  in  the  terrible  fall.  "  By 
one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by 
sin  ;  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all 
have  sinned."  Yes,  all  have  sinned,  Jew  and  Gentile, 
Celt  and  Saxon,  European  and  African,  Asiatic  and 
American,  savage  and  civilized,  degraded  and  re. 
fined — "there  is  no  difference" — "all  have  sinned, 
and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God." 


66  Sin  and  Salvation. 

Do  not  let  us  waste  time,  opportunity,  life,  in 
thinking  of  the  unimportant  differences  between  us, 
in  thinking  how  unlike  other  men  we  are  ;  how  much 
less  degraded,  how  much  less  abandoned,  how  much 
less  guilty.  We  are  all,  by  nature,  ruined.  We  are 
all  down  in  the  dark  and  slippery  gorge,  and  the  con- 
suming fire  is  not  far  away. 

There  is  One  "  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost." 
Let  us  not  cherish  the  vain  delusion,  that  only  a  part 
of  our  number  need  His  help.  We  all  need  it — all  of 
us — all  mankind. 

If  any  of  us  have  not  availed  ourselves  of  that 
saving  help,  let  us  do  so  without  any  further  delay. 
So  many  of  us  as  have  availed  ourselves  of  it — how 
much  can  we  do  for  the  rescue  of  others  —  others  at 
our  doors ;  others,  no  matter  how  far  away  ? 


CHAPTER   VI. 
SIN   AS  A    DELUSION. 

WE  shall  not  have  an  adequate  view  of  sin, 
without  taking  into  account  the  illusions 
which  belong  to  it,  and  carefully  studying  them. 

It  is  a  great  aggravation  of  any  evil  or  danger,  that 
it  is  deceptive,  that  it  easily  conceals  itself  and  works 
on  unseen.  We  are  more  afraid  of  "  the  pestilence 
that  walketh  in  darkness,"  than  of  "  the  destruction 
that  wasteth  at  noon-day." 

In  war,  an  invading  force  is  dangerous,  in  propor- 
tion to  its  leader's  ability  to  keep  its  numbers  and 
resources,  and  his  own  plans  of  campaign  concealed. 
A  disease  is  the  more  dangerous,  if  its  symptoms  are 
not  understood,  nor  the  circumstances  which  promote 
it,  nor  the  remedies  for  it.  A  bad  man,  or  a  perni- 
cious organization,  is  likely  to  do  harm  in  a  com- 
munity, in  proportion  to  the  ability  of  the  one  or  the 
other  to  appear  harmless,  or  even  useful.  Anything 
of  evil  character  and  tendency  is  deprived  of  much 
of  its  bad  power  when  it  is  fully  understood. 

This  is  obvious.  Many  of  the  best  maxims  of 
prudence,  in  warfare  and  in  ordinary  life,  are  founded 
on   it.     "  To   be    forewarned    is   to   be    forearmed." 

(67) 


68  Sin  and  Salvation, 

Successful  reconnoissance  gives  the  best  hope  of 
victory  in  the  coming  battle.  To  see  correctly  what 
you  have  to  avoid  gives  you  the  best  opportunity  to 
avoid  it. 

All  that  we  have  seen  of  sin — as  an  act ;  as  a  state ; 
as  a  disease ;  as  departure  from  God  ;  and  as  an 
inheritance — all  this  is  greatly  aggravated  by  its  de- 
lusiveness. 

Sin  is  delusive  in  two  ways. 

I.  In  regard  to  its  results.  Those  who  sin  com- 
monly do  so,  in  the  expectation  of  results,  seeming 
to  them  desirable,  which  seldom,  if  ever,  are  real- 
ized. So  was  it  with  the  first  human  sin.  It  was  to 
open  the  eyes  to  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  exalt- 
ing Adam  and  Eve  from  their  feeble  and  low  human 
state,  and  making  a  pair  of  gods  of  them.  It  did 
open  their  eyes  to  their  own  nakedness,  and  loaded 
their  spirits  with  shame  and  guilt.  It  has  been  the 
same  ever  since.  Nothing  is  more  plainly  taught  in 
the  Bible,  nothing  is  more  evident  from  experience, 
than  that  the  enjoyment  which  is  expected  to  result 
from  any  form  of  sinful  indulgence,  is  never  realized. 
The  person  who  has  yielded  to  such  an  inducement 
to  sin,  always  finds  that  he  has  been  deluded.  The 
promise  of  pleasure  is  not  fulfilled.  The  promised 
pleasure  utterly  fails  in  many  cases,  and  when  it  does 
not,  it  falls  far  below  the  expectation,  or  is  soon  fol- 
lowed by  embittering  or  sickening  pain. 


Sin  as  a  Delusion.  69 

How  notoriously  is  this  true  of  all  forms  of  .unlaw- 
ful sensual  indulgence  !  Who,  that  ever  yielded  to 
the  solicitations  of  appetite,  and  transgressed  God's 
commandment,  for  the  sake  of  the  gratification  of 
appetite,  has  failed  to  experience  painful  disappoint- 
ment in  respect  to  the  pleasure  thus  secured  ?  No 
one  was  ever  thus  made  really  content  and  happy. 
On  the  other  hand,  such  sinful  indulgence  is  always 
followed  by  unhappy  consequences  that  were  not 
looked  for. 

This  has  been  the  frequent  subject  of  thrilling 
description  and  of  eloquent  appeal  with  reference 
to  the  appetite  for  intoxicating  drinks.  The  forma- 
tion of  this  appetite  and  the  habit  of  indulging  it,  so 
almost  imperceptible  in  the  beginning,  how  terrible 
does  it  become  in  the  fullness  of  its  mature  strength ! 
how  utterly  ruinous  in  its  final  issue  ! 

The  same  is  true,  substantially,  of  all  forms  of 
profligacy,  all  forms  and  modes  of  sinful  indulgence. 
Every  such  indulgence  allures  with  promises  of  much 
greater  pleasure  than  is  ever  realized ;  and  "  at  the 
last,"  it  may  truly  be  said  of  every  one  of  them,  "  it 
biteth  like  a  serpent,  and  stingeth  like  an  adder." 

This  statement  is  applicable  not  only  to  the  gross 
and  revolting  forms  of  sin  ;  it  is  no  less  true  of  every 
sinful  disposition  that  is  ever  indulged.  The  spirit 
of  selfishness  (whatever  form  it  takes)  subjects  the 
mind  to  the  same  delusion.     Ambition  promises  to 


jo  Sin  and  Salvatio7t. 

bless  and  to  satisfy  the  soul ;  but  it  commonly  tosses 
and  shakes,  and  often  wrecks  it.  The  selfishly  ambi- 
tious man,  in  proportion  to  his  success,  becomes  lonely 
and  desolate.  Avarice  allures  with  gilded  hopes ;  but 
it  dries  and  withers  the  spirit,  and  when  its  utmost 
aspirations  are  realized,  the  soul  is  pinched  with  the 
worst  poverty.  Worldly  gayety  and  fashion,  all  forms 
and  types  of  worldliness,  allure  with  promises  of  en- 
joyment which  are  never  fulfilled,  and  they  cheat  the 
soul  that  pursues  them  out  of  the  real  good  which, 
but  for  them,  it  might  have  sought  and  found.  There 
is  no  sinful  course  in  which  he  who  pursues  it  will 
not  fail  of  the  enjoyment  which  he  hoped  for,  and 
reap  much  bitter  fruit. 

2.  In  regard  to  its  own  character.  Sin  does  not 
commonly  avow  itself  as  sin.  More  commonly  it 
puts  on  the  garb  of  virtue.  The  illusions  of  sin  upon 
the  mind,  in  this  respect,  are  many,  and  they  are 
wonderful.  He  who  sins  does  not  always,  nor  often, 
squarely  face  his  sin,  and  confess  to  himself  that  he 
is  sinning.  There  is  scarcely  any  sin  which  does 
not  so  disguise  itself  as  to  seem  almost  innocent  to 
him  who  allows  himself  to  listen  to  its  blandishments, 
to  stand  within  the  sphere  of  its  fascination.  Noth- 
ing is  more  common  than  for  the  guilty  not  to  feel 
their  guilt,  or  to  feel  it  very  feebly  and  inadequately. 
Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  bring  men  to  a  right 
estimate  of  their  own  character.    If  every  person  who 


Sin  as  a  Delusion,  Ji 

commits  sin,  every  time  he  commits  it,  were  to  see 
and  feel  just  how  guilty  he  is  in  committing  it,  sin 
would  appear  to  every  one  a  hideous,  horrid  thing. 
No  one  could  have  a  moment's  peace  or  a  moment's 
ease  in  sinning.  The  most  miserable  feeling  of 
which  our  human  hearts  are  capable  is  the  sense  of 
guilt. 

But  there  is  in  sin  the  power  of  blinding  the  mind 
of  him  who  commits  it  to  its  own  moral  deformity. 
A  person  may  in  fact  be  very  guilty,  and  be  not  at 
all,  or  very  slightly,  sensible  of  his  guilt.  A  person 
may  sin  long  and  greatly  with  no  adequate  convic- 
tion of  his  own  sinfulness. 

Such  is  the  deceitfulness  of  sin.  It  deludes  the 
soul,  both  as  to  its  own  nature,  and  as  to  the  results 
which  will  flow  from  it. 

This  may  easily  be  illustrated  and  verified  from 
common  observation  and  experience.  Whenever  you 
have  yielded  to  a  temptation  to  any  sinful  indulgence, 
have  you  not  uniformly  been  disappointed  ?  Did  any 
pleasure  thus  obtained  ever  satisfy  you,  or  fulfill  the 
expectation  whereby  you  were  misled  ?  Did  the 
pleasure  resulting  from  any  sin,  in  your  experience, 
ever  prove  equal  to  what  you  had  been  led  to  expect  ? 
and  was  there  not  always  a  sequel  of  remorse  or  of 
shame,  or  at  least  of  uneasiness  and  discontent,  of 
which,  in  the  excitement  of  temptation  and  indul- 
gence, you  had  no  adequate  foreboding  ? 


72  Sin  and  Salvation. 

If  those  who  are  now  excited  by  sinful  allurements, 
with  hopes  of  pleasure  from  sinning,  would  but  listen 
to  those  who  have  tried  it,  they  would  be  convinced 
that  happiness  is  not  to  be  found  that  way.  "  It 
is  all  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit. " 

That  other  and  worse;  delusion,  wherein  sin  blinds 
men  to  its  own  sinfulness,  is  as  readily  illustrated 
from  experience.  There  are  many  persons  living  in 
known  and  habitual  disobedience  to  God,  in  habitual 
neglect  of  known  and  confessed  duties,  who  yet  do 
not  feel  themselves  to  be  sinners — who  think  them- 
selves really  good-hearted.  They  excuse  themselves  ; 
justify  themselves  ;  value  themselves.  They  claim  to 
be  esteemed  as  honest,  humane,  generous,  virtuous, 
worthy  of  high  esteem,  although  they  are  living  in 
neglect  of  God,  prayerless  and  careless  toward  Him. 

They  do  not  feel  guilty  about  this.  They  do  not 
feel  at  all  as  they  imagine  they  would  feel,  if  they 
had  committed  crimes,  or  were  practicing  vices. 
They  seem  to  suppose  that  there  is  a  great  difference 
in  this  respect,  between  those  sins  which  violate  the 
rights  of  our  fellow-men,  or  which  are  destructive  to 
society  or  disgraceful  in  society,  and  those  sins  of 
heart  which  are  directly  and  only  against  God.  In 
words,  they  may  confess,  or  at  least  in  words  they 
will  not  deny,  that  obligations  to  God  are  the  high- 
est and  most  sacred  of  all  obligations,  and  yet  they 
do  not  feel  guilty  for  violating  or  disregarding  these, 


Sin  as  a  Delusion.  73 

as  they  presume  that  they  would  feel  for  wronging 
their  fellow-men,  or  practicing  any  gross  vice,  such  as 
profanity,  drunkenness,  or  lewdness. 

This  is  utterly  a  mistake.  Persons  actually  guilty 
of  gross  vices  are  quite  as  apt  to  be  torpid  as  to  the 
guilt  of  them,  and  the  worst  crimes  sometimes  dull 
and  blunt  the  conscience  marvelously.  I  have  never 
met  with  a  self-satisfaction  more  difficult  to  disturb 
than  that  of  a  man  whose  neighbors  looked  upon 
him  as  conspicuously  wicked,  a  profane,  coarse,  reck- 
less man.  Even  in  prospect  of  dying  soon,  he  avowed 
his  readiness  to  meet  God,  on  the  ground  that  he  had 
never  done  anything  with  which  a  just  God  should  be 
offended,  to  any  serious  or  alarming  extent.  I  have 
never  tried  harder,  or  with  less  success,  to  awaken 
any  human  consciences  to  a  sense  of  guilt,  than  those 
of  two  murderers,  whom  I  visited,  and  instructed,  and 
prayed  with  for  months,  and  until  "their  feet  lost 
their  hold  upon  the  scaffold." 

You,  who  read  this  with  surprise,  and  perhaps  think 
yourself  incapable  of  crime — if  under  temptation  you 
should  become  a  criminal — might  probably  at  first  be 
tortured  with  paroxysms  of  remorse  ;  but  if  left  to 
sink  deep  in  crime  and  become  used  to  it,  it  is  prob- 
able that  you  would  feel  as  little  conscious  guilt 
and  self-condemnation  as  you  feel  now.  It  is  the 
very  character  of  sin  to  blind  the  eyes  and  delude 
the  minds  of  its  victims.     Nothing  is  more  character- 


74  Sin  and  Salvation. 

istic  of  it ;  nothing  is  more  evil  and  harmful  in  it 
than  this  deceptive,  deluding,  blinding  power. 

The  explanation  of  this  delusive  power  of  sin 
is  not  difficult.  The  natural  selfishness  of  our  hearts 
indisposes  us  to  look  candidly  at  the  evidences  of 
our  own  guilt.  Notoriously,  we  do  not  see  ourselves 
as  others  see  us ;  how  unlikely  are  we  to  see  ourselves 
as  God  sees  us  !  We  love  ourselves  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  our  real  worthiness.  It  is  painful  to  feel 
guilty.  It  is  the  most  miserable  feeling  we  can  have. 
Naturally  we  shrink  from  it.  Naturally  we  turn  our 
minds  away  from  those  contemplations  which  would 
bring  this  feeling  upon  us.  This  unwillingness  to  feel 
guilty,  goes  far  to  account  for  our  failing  to  feel  so  in 
any  just  proportion  to  our  actual  occasion  for  feeling 
so.  It  prevents  the  mind  from  taking  a  thoroughly 
candid  position,  from  opening  itself  fully  to  convic- 
tion. There  is  inevitably  a  prejudice  in  favor  of 
ourselves  when  we  are  called  to  sit  in  judgment  upon 
ourselves. 

Another  reason  for  this  lack  of  a  due  sense  of  guilt 
is  found  in  the  very  nature  of  conscience,  that  power 
or  susceptibility  through  which  alone  we  are  capable 
of  either  a  conviction  or  a  feeling  of  guilt.  We  may 
regard  it  as  both  a  power  and  a  susceptibility.  As  a 
susceptibility,  as  a  capability  of  feeling,  like  every 
other,  it  can  be  blunted,  can  have  its  sensibility  grad- 
ually diminished  till  it  is  quite  gone,  like  the  sense  of 


Sin  as  a  Delusion.  75 

feeling  from  fingers  that  have  become  slowly  accus- 
tomed to  handle  hot  iron.  Unquestionably,  the  prac- 
tice of  sin  gradually  benumbs  the  conscience.  It 
deadens  its  sensibility.  That  is  a  fearful  state  of  the 
soul ;  but  it  is  the  state  toward  which  all  habitual  sin- 
ning tends — all  habitual  doing  of  wrong,  and  all  habit- 
ual neglect  of  duty.  And  it  is  just  as  true  of  sin  that 
is  not  socially  disgraceful  as  of  that  which  is  so.  It 
is  just  as  true  of  sin  in  the  heart,  between  the  heart 
and  God,  as  of  that  which  breaks  out  toward  our  fel- 
low-men, in  wrongs  and  outrages,  in  crimes  or  in  vices. 
"  Take  heed,  brethren,  ....  lest  any  of  you  be  hard- 
ened, through  the  deceitfulness  of  sin."  No*  one  is 
likely  to  handle  iron  that  is  red  hot,  or  coals  that  are 
brightly  glowing.  One  may  in  haste  and  heedlessness 
touch  them  when  they  are  black,  and  still  hot  enough 
to  harden  and  deaden  the  skin.  We  have  no  right  to 
be  heedless  ;  there  are  other  ways  of  knowing  whether 
coals  are  hot,  besides  the  glowing  color;  there  are 
other  ways  of  knowing  that  an  action  or  a  course  of 
action  is  sinful  and  will  hurt  our  consciences,  besides 
its  being  odious  and  disgraceful  in  human  society. 
We  are  bound  to  be  attentive  and  obedient  to  the 
very  whispers  of  conscience ;  not  merely  to  its  loud 
outcries  in  full  chorus  with  the  indignant  clamor  of 
the  public.  If  we  will  subject  our  souls  to  this  slow, 
sure  hardening,  it  should  be  no  wonder  that  we  find 
them  blinded  also.  It  is  no  wonder  that  when  sin 
has  hardened  us  it  can  then  easily  deceive  us. 


J6  Sin  and  Salvation. 

Sin  spoils  the  soul.  Sin  ruins  the  soul.  Its  destruc- 
tive work  is  constantly  going  on  in  this  world ;  and 
that  world  in  which  its  work  is  finished,  is  "  the  bot- 
tomless pit." 

This  hardening  and  blinding  effect  of  sin  is  one  of 
its  worst.  It  blinds  by  hardening,  and  then  the  victim 
is  easily  led  and  pushed  on  toward  that  pit. 

There  is  a  form  of  bodily  blindness  which  resembles 
this.  The  eye  retains  its  natural  form  and  color,  just 
as  in  health.  No  film  covers  it.  No  cataract  darkens 
it.  No  inflammation  reddens,  and  swells,  and  closes 
it.  Physicians  call  this  disease  amaurosis.  That  is.  a 
Greek  word  for  simple  darkness.  They  also  call  it  by 
a  Latin  name,  Gutta  serena  (drop  serene) ;  and  Milton 
in  his  great  poem,  in  that  famous  passage  in  which  he 
refers,  with  infinite  pathos,  to  his  own  loss  of  vision, 
says  of  his  own  sightless  eye-balls : 

11  So  thick  a  drop  serene  has  quenched  their  orbs, 
Or  dim  suffusion  veiled." 

He  seems  to  have  been  uncertain  which  of  two  dif- 
ferent diseases  had  consigned  him  to  perpetual  dark- 
ness. But  that  which  he  describes  by  the  terms 
"  drop  serene "  does  consign  to  utter  darkness  one 
whose  eyes  may  still  be  whole  and  fair  for  others  to 
look  upon.  It  is  defined  as  "  a  loss  or  decay  of  sight, 
without  any  visible  defect  in  the  eye,  usually  from 
loss  of  power  in  the  optic  nerve,"  that  quick  thread, 
expanded  in  the  back  of  the  eye  into  a  living  canvas^ 


Sin  as  a  Delusion.  77 

on  which  all  our  objects  of  sight  are  pictured,  and 
the  vivid  sense  of  them  telegraphed  through  the  fine* 
ly  throbbing  brain,  unto  the  conscious  indwelling 
spirit.  That  marvelous  nerve  has  lost  its  vivid  power. 
It  is  quenched.  It  is  dead.  Eyes  thus  quenched 
then 

11  roll  in  vain, 
To  find  light's  piercing  ray,  and  find  no  dawn." 

Even  thus  may  the  soul  be  blinded  by  the  amau 
rosis  of  sin. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
SIN    AS    A    DOOM. 

OUR  study  of  Sin  will  not  be  complete  without 
a  serious  inquiry  concerning  the  final  issue  and 
consummation  of  it.  We  have  seen  that,  as  an  act, 
it  is  utterly  wrong;  is  in  violation  of  the  supreme 
authority  and  the  perfect  law  of  God  our  Maker. 
We  have  seen  that  it  is  a  permanently  evil  and  culpa- 
ble state  of  the  soul ;  that  whosoever  hath  sinned  is 
a  sinner ;  whosoever  has  done  what  he  ought  not  to 
do,  is  what  he  ought  not  to  be.  We  have  seen  that 
sin  is  a  corruption,  a  distortion,  a  morbid  condition  of 
the  human  faculties,  the  worst  of  all  diseases.  We 
have  seen  that  it  is  departure,  separation,  alienation 
of  the  soul  from  the  God  who  made  it,  union  and 
communion  with  whom  would  be  its  highest,  even  its 
perfect  blessedness.  We  can  not  avoid  nor  repress 
the  question  :  "  What  shall  come  of  all  this  ?  "  "  What 
shall  the  harvest  be  ?  "  The  Bible  has  not  left  us  with- 
out an  answer  to  this  question.  I  try  here  to  present 
that  answer  by  gathering  from  the  Bible  at  large,  the 
teaching  which  characterizes  it. 

I.  The  Bible  treats  of  sin  as  belonging  to  that  part 
of  our  human  nature  which  is  immortal.     It  does  not 

disregard  its  connection  with  the  body,  nor  its  effects 
(78) 


Sin  as  a  Doom.  79 

upon  the  body.  We  read  in  the  book  of  Job  (xx.  1 1) 
of  "  the  bones  of  the  wicked  being  full  of  the  sins  of 
his  youth,"  and  if  you  will  visit  a  good  anatomical 
museum,  they  will  show  you  human  bones  swollen 
and  distorted  into  such  monstrous  and  hideous  shapes 
as  do  constitute  a  most  impressive  warning  against  a 
sin  to  which  youth  is  everywhere  fearfully  tempted. 
We  read  also  in  the  book  of  Proverbs  (xxiii.  29)  of  the 
"wounds  without  cause"  and  the  "redness  of  eyes," 
as  well  as  of  the  "babbling"  and  the  "sorrow"  and 
the  "contentions"  of  them  "who  tarry  long  at  the 
wine ;  that  go  to  seek  mixed  wine."  We  have  seen 
how  the  Bible,  in  both  Testaments,  in  its  revelation 
of  the  Redeemer,  connects  human  sins  and  human 
sicknesses  in  its  account  of  the  burden  which  He 
bore  for  mankind.  Yet  it  nowhere  makes  the  impres- 
sion that  sin  is  of  the  body ;  that  the  body  sins. 
Sin,  as  an  act,  is  an  act  of  intelligence  and  of  free 
will.  It  is  an  act  which  can  only  be  done  by  a 
rational  and  voluntary  being.  A  machine  can  not 
sin.  A  beast  can  not  sin.  You  can  not  think  of  a 
beast,  or  a  machine,  or  a  tornado,  or  a  volcano,  or 
a  whirlpool,  or  typhoid  fever,  or  the  cholera,  as 
a  sinner.  You  dread  them  for  the  harm  they  do. 
You  never  blame  them  for  wrong-doing.  There  is 
no  broader  distinction  in  human  thought  than  that 
between  a  physical  hurt  and  a  moral  wrong ;  between 
a  physically  harmful  thing  and  a  morally  wrong  thing 


80  Sin  and  Salvation. 

between  injury  and  sin.  You  always  think  of  sin  as 
an  act  or  a  state  of  the  soul,  not  the  body.  It  is  not 
then  something  that  is  finally  disposed  of  by  the  dis- 
solution of  the  body.  However  deformed,  disordered, 
poisoned,  the  body  may  be,  and  however  loathsome 
the  process  of  its  dissolution,  when  that  process  is 
finished,  the  hideousness  and  the  loathsomeness  are 
gone.  "  Earth  to  earth,  dust  to  dust " ;  then  there 
are  no  forms  of  beauty,  nor  of  sweetness,  nor  of  life 
into  which  that  dust  may  not  again  enter.  But  hid- 
eousness, deformity,  disease  of  soul  do  not  end  thus. 
The  Bible  habitually  gives  the  impression  that  the 
soul  continues,  after  the  body's  dissolution,  the  same, 
in  character,  which  it  was  before.  The  Bible,  Jesus 
Christ,  speaking  in  the  Bible,  has  brought  clearly 
out  the  grand  fact  of  the  soul's  immortality.  The 
pagan  philosophers  hoped  for  it.  The  natural  yearn- 
ings and  longings  of  the  soul  do  doubtless  "  intimate 
eternity  to  man."  But  it  is  the  Bible,  "  the  word  of 
God  written,"  which  has  made  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  a  certainty.  It  is  "  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  abol- 
ished death,  and  hath  brought  life  and  immortality 
to  light,  through  the  Gospel." — 2  TlM.  i.  10.  The 
Bible  gives  us  the  assurance  that  in  and  after  the 
body's  dissolution,  the  soul  lives  on,  and  awaits  the 
reconstruction  and  revivification  of  the  body,  "  in  the 
resurrection,  at  the  last  day."  Now  it  is  this  undying, 
indestructible  part  of  us — it  is  our  spiritual  being,  to 


Sin  as  a  Doom,  81 

which  sin  belongs ;    sin  is  an  act  and  a  state  of  the 
soul,  the  immortal  human  spirit. 

II.  Sin  is  a  power  in  the  universe,  in  human  life 
and  experience,  which  operates,  like  other  powers, 
under  an  established  law  of  cause  and  effect.  Just 
as  gunpowder  embosoms  a  force  which,  when  awak- 
ened by  the  touch  of  fire,  will  rend  to  fragments  the 
rock  in  which  you  have  imprisoned  it,  or  drive  for- 
ward with  terrific  swiftness  the  ball  that  lies  before 
it,  in  the  gun-barrel ;  just  as  seed  has  in  it  a  power 
which,  in  appropriate  conditions  of  soil  and  warmth 
and  moisture,  will  generate  and  uplift  and  mature  the 
stalks  and  the  ears  of  a  harvest ;  just  as  this  process 
is  regular  and  determinate,  under  an  ascertainable 
and  intelligible  law,  so  that  the  kind  and  quality  of 
the  seed  predetermines  the  kind  and  quality  of  the 
harvest ;  so  is  sin  a  power,  which  works  on,  under  its 
own  law,  and  works  out,  in  human  experience,  certain 
definite  and  ascertainable  effects. 

"  They  that  plow  iniquity  and  sow  wickedness,  reap 
the  same." — JOB  iv.  8.  "  He  that  soweth  iniquity 
shall  reap  vanity." — PROV.  xxii.  8.  "  For  they  have 
sown  the  wind,  and  they  shall  reap  the  whirlwind." — 
HOS.  viii.  7.  "  Be  not  deceived  ;  God  is  not  mocked  ; 
for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 
For  he  that  soweth  to  his  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap 
corruption  ;  but  he  that  soweth  to  the  Spirit  shall  of 
the  Spirit  reap  life  everlasting." — Gal.  vi.  7,  8. 
4* 


82  Sin  and  Salvation. 

III.  The  result  toward  which  sin  works,  the  final 
effect  of  which  it  is  the  cause,  the  ripe  harvest  of  which 
it  is  the  seed,  is  death.  "  Then  when  lust  hath  con- 
ceived, it  bringeth  forth  sin ;  and  sin,  when  it  is  fin- 
ished, bringeth  forth  death." — J  AS.  i.  15. 

What  do  we,  what  should  we  mean  by  this  word  ? 
We  apply  it  properly  to  that  destructive  consumma- 
tion of  disease  or  of  violence  which  separates  the  soul 
from  the  body,  and  gives  up  the  body  to  speedy  dis- 
solution. We  can  not  help  connecting  this  bodily 
death,  in  our  thoughts,  with  the  sad  fact  of  sin.  We 
believe  that  sin  brought  this  into  the  world.  Without 
sin,  we  do  not  indeed  know  that  life  in  this  world 
might  not  have  had  a  limit,  and  come  regularly  to  an 
end.  The  actual  experience  of  Enoch  and  of  Elijah,  as 
recorded  in  the  Old  Testament,  shows  that  God  could 
have  transferred  us  all,  if  we  had  been  sinless,  to  some 
other  sphere  of  being,  without  our  tasting  of  death. 
Or,  if  so  He  pleased,  He  could  have  brought  about 
the  separation  of  our  souls  from  our  bodies,  with  no 
such  accompanying  pain  and  horror  as  those  with 
which,  in  our  actual  experience,  death  is  invested. 
Doubtless  He  could  have  ordained  that  we  all  should 
fall  asleep  painlessly  at  the  end  of  our  appointed 
time  upon  the  earth,  and  wake  in  heaven,  unembod- 
ied,  or  with  our  bodies  transfigured  and  glorified,  as 
the  body  of  the  Lord  was  upon  the  mount,  as  it  was 
when  He  ascended,  and  as  the  bodies  of  those  saints 


,  Sin  as  a  Doom.  83 

shall  be,  who  are  alive  at  Christ's  final  coming, 
"  changed  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye, 
at  the  last  trump"  (1  Cor.  xv.  51,  52). 
^Vhatever  such  experiences  there  might  have  been 
of  sinless  men  —  of  transition  to  other  worlds  or 
spheres  of  being — they  would  not  have  been  death. 
We  can  not  believe  that  there  would  have  entered 
into  the  experience  of  sinless  beings  any  such  horror 
as  this,  to  which  we  give  the  name  of  death.  In  this 
proper  and  impressive  sense,  then,  the  death  of  our 
bodies  is,  no  doubt,  an  effect  of  sin,  a  consequence  of 
our  sinfulness.  It  is  also  true  that  indulgence  in  sin, 
sinning  "  with  a  high  hand,"  very  commonly  hastens 
bodily  death,  and  fearfully  aggravates  all  the  natural 
horror  and  pain  of  it.  This  is  especially  and  notably 
so  in  respect  to  some  particular  forms  of  sin,  as 
drunkenness  and  lewdness. 

But  is  this  death  of  the  body,  this  quenching  of 
animal  life  and  dissolution  of  the  animal  frame,  all 
that  we  mean  by  death  ?  Is  it  all  that  we  ought  to 
mean  ?  Is  it  all  that  the  Bible  means  ?  Is  it  all  that 
God  meant,  when  He  said  to  Adam,  "  Of  the  tree  of 
the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  ....  in  the  day 
that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die "  ? 
or  when  by  the  mouth  of  Ezekiel  He  said,  and  by 
the  pen  of  Ezekiel  caused  to  be  written  for  all  ages — 
"  The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die  "  ?  Nay,  you  can 
not  begin  to  put  all  the  solemn  intimations,  all  the 


84  Sin  and  Salvation. 

dread  forebodings,  all  the  plain  declarations  of  the 
Bible  into  that  supposition.  Take,  for  example,  these 
words  of  Jesus — "  Fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body, 
but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul ;  but  rather  fear  J]jm 
who  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell." — 
MATT.  x.  29.  The  Lord  Jesus  believed  in  something 
beyond  the  death  of  the  body,  more  terrible  than  the 
death  of  the  body,  so  much  more  terrible  that,  in 
comparison,  this  seemed  to  Him  not  to  be  dreaded 
at  all.  Did  He  know  what  He  was  saying  ?  Ah  ! 
He  knew  of  a  killing  of  the  soul,  quite  other  than 
its  violent  and  painful  disrupture  from  the  body.  He 
knew  of  a  death  beyond  this  bodily,  which  He  described 
as  the  destruction  of  "  both  soul  and  body  in  hell."  De- 
struction /  Let  your  mind  dwell  on  that  fearful 
word.  Can  you  reach  and  grasp  all  its  meaning? — 
all  its  meaning,  when  applied  to  such  a  thing  as  your 
soul  ? — to  such  a  being  as  yourself  ? 

"  What  is  a  man  profited,"  Jesus  asked,  "  if  he  shall 
gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?  "  So 
Matthew  reports  His  saying,  who  probably  heard  it 
from  His  own  lips. — Matt.  xvi.  26.  Another  in- 
spired writer,  reporting  the  same  saying,  gives  it  in 
these  words  :  "  What  is  a  man  advantaged,  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world,  and  lose  himself,  or  be  cast  away  ?  " 
— Luke  ix.  26.  That  shows  how  men  of  that  time 
understood  the  Lord.  To  lose  the  soul,  is  to  lose 
yourself.     It  is  to  be  a  lost  man  ;  not  a  lost  man  in  a 


Sin  as  a  Doom.  85 

deep  wilderness ;  not  a  lost  man  in  a  wintry  storm. 
in  the  midst  of  a  broad  prairie ;  not  a  lost  man  on 
the  fragment  of  a  wreck,  far  out  on  the  sea  ;  but  a 
lost  man  in  eternity.  That  is  just  what  it  will  be,  to 
"  die  in  your  sins,"  as  Jesus  declares  that  they  shall - 
die  who  do  not  believe  on  Him. 

There  are  no  recorded  words  of  Jesus,  no  words 
written  in  the  Bible,  which  seem  to  me  more  dreadful 
than  those — "ye  shall  die  in  your  sins" 

There  are  indeed  views  of  that  to  which  sin  ex 
poses  us,  in  the  future,  which  are  more  particular, 
more  specific,  set  forth  in  more  graphic  representa 
tion  ;  but  to  my  mind  the  very  generality  of  this,  the 
absence  from  it  of  all  specification,  and  all  particular 
description,  give  it  a  peculiar  fearfulness.  It  seenw 
to  me  that  I  should  not  shudder  so  much  at  the 
thought  of  the  future  retributions,  if  they  were  or 
could  be  fully  described  in  human  language,  or 
brought  within  the  measure  of  human  comprehen- 
sion. I  am  not  so  much  afraid  of  anything  which  I 
find  that  I  can  measure,  can  go  all  around,  and  know 
that  I  have  seen  the  whole  of  it.  Anything  which  I 
could  adequately  describe  to  another,  or  which  an- 
other could  adequately  describe  to  me,  so  that  I 
should  at  length  feel  sure  that  I  had  the  whole  of  it, 
had  satisfactorily  made  out  its  full  import — any  such 
thing,  I  might  perhaps  think  it  possible  for  me  to 
bear,  when  it  should  come   upon  me.      But   those 


86  ^     Sin  and  Salvation.   ~~ 

words  of  Jesus,  "ye  shall  die  in  your  sins,"  give  me 
the  impression  of  something  which  He  would  not 
undertake  to  describe,  something  which  can  not  be 
adequately  described  or  expressed,  something  which 
I  can  not  suppose  myself  able  adequately  to  con- 
ceive. 

Standing  here,  in  this  world,  in  the  midst  of  what 
is  so  evidently  a  scene  of  probation  and  of  mercy,  of 
opportunity  and  of  hope,  seeing  myself,  feeling  my- 
self so  rapidly  borne  on  across  this  scene,  irresistibly 
borne  toward  the  door  of  departure  from  it,  unable 
to  see  an  inch  beyond  that  door  into  the  solemn 
boundlessness,  I  listen  for  any  voice  that  may  per- 
adventure  come  in  to  me,  telling  me  what  I  must 
there  meet,  what  I  ought  there  to  be  prepared  for. 
Thus  listening,  there  come  to  me,  out  of  God's  Word, 
such  divine  voices  as  these  :  "  It  is  appointed  unto 
men  once  to  die,  but  after  this  the  judgment." — Heb. 
ix.  27.  "  He  that  is  unjust,  let  him  be  unjust  still ; 
and  he  which  is  filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still ;  and  he 
that  is  righteous,  let  him  be  righteous  still  ;  and  he 
that  is  holy,  let  him  be  holy  still.  And  behold,  I 
come  quickly ;  and  my  reward  is  with  me,  to  give  to 
every  man  according  as  his  work  shall  be." — Rev.  xxii. 
II,  12.  So  clearly,  so  solemnly  is  that  other  world 
announced  to  me  by  God's  Word,  not  as  a  scene  of 
probation,  of  opportunity,  of  hope,  but  as  a  scene  of 
retribution,  of  judgment.     It  is  not  a  place  for  earn- 


Sin  as  a  Doom.  Sy 

ing  wages,  but  of  receiving  wages  ;  and  "  the' wages 
of  sin  is  death." — ROM.  vi.  23.  It  is  not  a  scene  of 
seed-sowing,  but  of  harvest-gathering.  "  0,  what 
shall  the  harvest  be  ?  " 

Conscious  of  having  here  deeply  sinned,  conscious 
of  being  deeply  sinful,  I  can  not  think  of  anything 
else  so  dreadful  as  to  be  left  to  "  die  in  my  sins  " — to 
go,  in  all  my  guilt,  unpardoned,  uncleansed,  into  the 
presence  of  Him  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold 
evil,  and  who  can  not  look  on  iniquity  "  (Hab.  i.  13) ; 
to  stand,  in  His  presence,  in  that  clear  light  in  which 
there  is  no  need  of  sun  nor  of  candle,  and  in  which  I 
shall  know  even  as  also  I  am  known. — 1  COR.  xiii.  12; 
Rev.  xx.  5. 

Reading  the  Bible,  and  finding  how  full  it  is  of 
God's  revealed  provision  for  our  deliverance  from  sin, 
how  affectionately  it  entreats  us  to  depart  from  evil, 
and  to  seek  life  now  ;  how  richly  it  exhibits  God's 
saving  mercy,  and  His  gracious  help  —  then,  to 
think  of  all  these  opportunities  being  neglected,  all 
these  provisions  slighted,  and  that,  notwithstanding 
them  all,  any  should  "die  in  their  sins" — I  can  not 
think  of  anything  consoling  or  hopeful  for  them. 
For  those  who  here  know  the  way  of  life,  and  decline 
all  invitations  to  walk  in  it ;  who  know  of  Christ,  in  all 
His  fullness  of  grace  and  truth,  and  turn  their  backs 
to  Him  ;  who  refuse  when  He  calls,  and  when  He 
stretches  out  His  hand  do  not  regard  it ;  who,  when 


88  Sin  and  Salvation. 

He  stands  at  the  door  and  knocks,  will  not  open  to 
Him,  and  let  Him  in ;  who  refuse  to  believe  on  Him, 
and  die  in  their  sins ; — verily,  "  there  remaineth  no 
more  sacrifice  for  sins,  but  a  certain  fearful  looking 
for  of  judgment."  —  PROV.  i.  24-33  5  Heb.  x.  26,  27  ; 
Rev.  iii.  20. 


PART     SECOND 


SALVAT  ION. 

WE  have  studied  sin  in  several  of  the  aspects 
in  which  the  Bible  reveals  it,  and  in  which 
we  know  it  in  sad  experience.  Sin,  as  an  act ; 
as  a  state  ;  as  disease  ;  as  departure  from  God  ;  as 
an  inheritance  ;  as  a  delusion  ;  as  a  doom.  This  has 
been  necessarily  a  painful  study ;  it  would  be  a  use- 
less one,  if  there  were  no  available  remedy  for  the 
dreadful  evil.  In  that  case,  the  only  true  wisdom 
would  be  to  close  our  eyes  to  the  ruin  before  us,  and 
harden  our  hearts  against  the  misery  upon  us.  It 
was  because  we  knew  that  it  is  not  so,  that  we  were 
able  to  pursue  that  study.  All  the  pain  of  it  was 
made  tolerable  by  the  hope  which  accompanied  it. 
Deep,  dark,  dismal  as  the  valley  of  our  sin  and  mis- 
ery is,  there  is  a  light  streaming  into  the  darkness. 
"  The  sable  cloud  turns  forth  a  silver  lining  on  the 
night."  "  The  day-spring  from  on  high  hath  visited 
us."     Let  us  heed  and  follow  its  gleaming.     Let  us 

(89) 


90  Sin  and  Salvation. 

"  take  heed  unto  the  light  shining  in  a  dark  place, 
until  the  day  dawn,  and  the  day  star  arise  in  our 
hearts."  Yea,  let  us  believe  that  this  shining  light 
shall  "  shine  more  and  more  unto  perfect  day."  It 
surely  will,  if  we  obediently  and  trustingly  "  walk  in 
the  light,"  "as  God  gives  us  to  see"  it;  light  of 
truth,  light  of  hope,  light  of  salvation.  "  For  we  are 
saved  by  hope :  but  hope  that  is  seen  is  not  hope  : 
for  what  a  man  seeth,  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for  ? 
But  if  we  hope  for  that  we  see  not,  then  do  we  with 
patience  wait  for  it.  Likewise  also  the  Spirit  help- 
eth  our  infirmities  :  for  we  know  not  what  we  should 
pray  for  as  we  ought :  but  the  Spirit  itself  maketh 
intercession  for  us  with  groanings  which  can  not  be 
uttered.  And  he  that  searcheth  the  hearts  knoweth 
what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  because  he  maketh  in- 
tercession for  the  saints  according  to  the  will  of  God. 
And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together  for  good 
to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  who  are  the  called 
according  to  his  purpose.  For  whom  he  did  fore- 
know he  also  did  predestinate  to  be  conformed  to 
the  image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might  be  the  first-born 
among  many  brethren.  Moreover,  whom  he  did  pre- 
destinate, them  he  also  called  :  and  whom  he  called, 
them  he  also  justified  :  and  whom  he  justified,  them 
he  also  glorified." — Rom.  viii.  24-30. 

Verily,  it  is  a  "  great  salvation,"  which  "  the  word 
of  God  written "  reveals  to   us,  which  the  Word  of 


Salvation.  9  i 

God  incarnate  brought  to  us.  To  the  study  of  this 
Salvation  we  now  turn,  and  will  consider  it  in  a  num- 
ber of  aspects  more  or  less  correspondent  to  those  in 
which  we  have  studied  sin. 

As  the  very  idea  of  sin  implies  a  sinner,  an  intelli- 
gent, free  being,  subject  to  a  law,  and  responsible  to 
a  Law-giver,  a  being  capably  of  doing  the  wrong  acts, 
and  being  in  the  wrong  state,  which  sin  is — liable  to 
the  disorder,  the  alienation  from  God,  the  delusion, 
and  the  doom — even  so  the  idea  of  salvation  implies 
a  Saviour,  a  being  who  is  able  to  do  all  that  is  im- 
plied in  the  rescue  of  the  sinner  from  that  doom, 
from  that  delusion,  that  disorder,  that  alienation,  that 
evil  state. 

The  first  Bible  reference  to  salvation,  the  first  hint 
of  deliverance  from  the  ruin  into  which  mankind,  in 
the  first  pair,  had  then  recently  fallen,  was  in  the 
obscure  promise  of  one  to  come,  "  seed  of  the  wom- 
an," who  should  defeat  and  destroy  their  destroyer, 
should  "  bruise  the  serpent's  head." 

When  the  ages  and  dispensations  had  been  fulfilled, 
whereby  preparation  had  been  made,  and  the  fullness 
of  times  completed,  for  his  coming,  the  first  New 
Testament  reference  to  human  salvation  was  in  the 
angelic  announcement  of  the  name  by  which  the 
coming  Deliverer  should  be  known.  "  Thou  shalt 
call  his  name  JESUS  ;  for  he  shall  save  his  people 
from  their  sins." — MATT.  i.  21. 


92  Sin  and  Salvation. 

The  wonderful  person  and  the  twofold  nature  of 
this  Jesus,  child  of  a  human  virgin,  Son  of  the  blessed 
God,  we  are  not  now  to  study.  Knowledge  of  Him, 
sufficient  for  our  purpose,  is  here  assumed,  and  the 
recognition  of  Him  as  the  personal  author  of  the  sal- 
vation which  we  are  to  study,  is  taken  for  granted. 

The  salvation  of  which  He  is  the  author,  who  for 
that  very  reason  was  named  JESUS,  or  SAVIOUR,  was 
declared  to  be  a  salvation  from  SIN.  "  He  shall  save 
his  people  from  their  sins." 

This  salvation  we  are  to  contemplate  in  several 
aspects,  in  the  light  which  the  Bible  throws  upon  it. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SALVATION  AS  AN  ACT. 

WE  have  seen  that  salvation  implies  a  saviour. 
It  also  implies  something  evil  from  which 
one  is  saved.  A  person  needing  to  be  saved  ;  an 
evil  from  which  he  needs  to  be  saved  ;  a  person  able 
to  save  ; — all  these  are  continually  implied. 

There  may  be  an  actual  exposure  to  the  most 
serious  danger ;  and  there  may  be  a  sudden  transi- 
tion from  that  situation  of  exposure  to  one  of  perfect 
safety  by  a  single  act.  That  may  be  wholly  the  act 
of  the  person  himself;  it  may  be  wholly  the  act 
of  another ;  it  may  be  a  concurrent  act  of  the  person 
saved  with  that  of  another,  who,  in  either  of  these 
two  latter  cases,  is  properly  called  his  saviour. 

When  Simon  Peter,  from  his  fishing-boat  tossed 
helplessly  on  the  waves  of  stormy  Gennesaret,  saw 
his  Lord  walking  on  the  water,  he  asked  permission 
to  come  to  Him  ;  but  as  He  was  coming  his  courage 
and  faith  failed.  He  felt  himself  sinking.  "  Lord, 
save  me,"  he  cried,  and  immediately  Jesus  stretched 
forth  His  hand,  and  caught  him,  and  said  unto  him, 
"O  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  ?' 
It  was  the  peril  of  a  moment.     A  single  act  of  Jesus 

(93) 


94  Sin  and  Salvation. 

wrought  a  rescue,  a  salvation.  Again,  on  the  same 
waters,  the  disciples  were  imperiled  by  a  fierce  tem- 
pest covering  and  rilling  their  vessel  with  waves.  The 
Master  was  asleep.  They  woke  Him  with  the  wild 
cry  :  "  Carest  thou  not  that  we  perish  ?  "  "  Peace  ! 
be  still ! "  said  the  Lord,  "  and  there  was  a  great 
calm."  They  were  saved  by  the  Lord's  act,  a  single 
and  sudden  putting  forth  of  His  miraculous  power,  a 
single  peremptory,  decisive  exercise  of  His  dominion 
over  the  forces  of  nature.  "  He  spake,  and  it  was 
done."  "He  uttered  his  voice"  and  the  mad  ele- 
ments subsided  from  their  fury.  "  The  winds  heard 
it,  and  fled  to  their  secret  chambers  ;  and  the  waters 
ceased  their  commotion,  and  rolled  in  gentle  ripples 
upon  the  shore  of  Galilee."  The  imperiled  crew  of 
that  Galilean  vessel  were  saved  by  a  single  act  of 
their  Master.  By  the  word  of  His  power  going  forth 
in  one  mighty  command  their  salvation  was  imme- 
diately and  fully  accomplished. 

On  one  occasion,  our  Lord,  being  at  the  table  of 
a  Pharisee,  was  approached  (as  was  practicable  in 
their  oriental  mode  of  reclining)  by  a  broken-hearted 
woman,  who  poured  precious  ointment  from  a  costly 
vial  upon  His  feet,  and  also  shed  tears  on  them  so 
profusely,  while  she  kissed  them  and  let  her  loose 
hair  fall  about  them,  that  the  sacred  writer  poetically 
calls  it  washing  His  feet  with  her  tears,  and  wiping 
them  with  her  hair.      The  self-righteous  host  was 


Salvation  as  an  Act.  95 

astonished  at  this,  and  drew  an  inference  unfavorable 
to  Jesus'  claim  to  be  considered  a  prophet.  This 
gave  the  Lord  occasion  to  utter  a  most  instructive 
parable,  and  most  encouraging  to  the  sincerely  peni- 
tent. But  the  priceless  gem  that  is  set  in  the  golden 
story  is  His  word  to  the  woman:  "Thy  faith  hath 
saved  thee  ;  enter  into  peace."*  There  was  wrought 
for  this  penitent,  an  instant  salvation,  by  the  Lord's 
authoritative  act  of  forgiveness.  He  also  brought  into 
great  prominence  her  own  act  of  faith,  declaring  that 
that  had  saved  her.  He  justifies  us  in  holding  that 
there  is  a  sudden,  a  momentary  transition  of  a  soul, 
when  it  receives  Divine  forgiveness,  which  is  prop- 
erly called  salvation.  It  is  a  transition,  a  passing 
over  from  a  state  of  peril  to  a  state  of  safety ;  from 
a  condition  of  condemnation  to  a  state  of  justifica- 
tion ;  from  a  situation  of  exposure  to  wrath  and  ruin, 
to  a  situation  of  peace  and  of  assurance  of  hope. 
He  teaches  us  to  say,  that  a  soul  which,  by  confess- 
ing its  sin,  and  receiving  Divine  forgiveness,  has 
made  that  transition,  is  then  and  thereby  saved  ;  that 
a  forgiven  soul  is  a  saved  soul.  Furthermore,  He 
teaches  us  not  only  that  this  sudden  and  immediate 
salvation  is  accomplished  by  the  authoritative  act  of 


*  Luke  vii.  50.  This  is  a  more  exact  rendering  than  that  in  our 
common  version.  It  marks  the  transition  of  the  forgiven  soul,  from 
its  previous  trouble  and  unrest,  into  that  peace  which  passeth  under- 
standing. 


96  Sin  and  Salvation. 

God,  but  also  that  it  is  conditioned  on  an  act  of  the 
sinful  soul  itself,  even  its  act  of  faith,  its  believing 
acceptance  of  the  Saviour,  as  He  is  pffered  in  the 
Gospel.  So,  most  evidently,  that  penitent  woman 
had  accepted  Him,  and  poured  the  evidence  of  such 
acceptance  on  His  feet,  and  sealed  it  with  pure  and 
fervent  kisses,  and  filled  all  the  space  around  with 
the  holy  fragrance.  How  could  He  have  declared 
more  distinctly  the  true  and  indispensable  relation  of 
her  faith  to  her  salvation,  or  how  could  He  have 
emphasized  the  declaration  more  impressively,  than 
by  saying,  as  He  did  to  her,  "  thy  faith  hath  saved 
thee  ;  enter  into  peace  "  ? 

He  teaches  us  the  same  lesson,  in  His  gracious 
healing  of  the  woman,  who  crept  so  timidly  to  Him, 
through  the  crowd,  and  touched  the  hem  of  His  gar- 
ment, for  the  healing  of  her  painful  and  irksome  malady : 
"  And  he  said  unto  her,  Daughter,  be  of  good  comfort : 
thy  faith  have  saved*  thee :  enter  into  peace." — LUKE 
viii.  48.  Another  illustration  of  this  is  given  us  by 
Luke  (xvii.  19),  where  He  uses  the  same  expression 
to  a  leper ;  and  still  another  (xviii.  42)  where,  to  the 
blind  man  of  Jericho,  responding  to  his  touching 
prayer,  "  Lord,  that  I  might  receive  my  sight,"  He 


*  Our  version  gives  us  "  made  whole"  instead  of  "  saved,  "  but  in 
the  Greek  the  word  is  the  same  which  is  rendered  "  saved"  in  the 
other  passages.  The  words  "  made  whole"  correctly  explain  what 
kind  of  salvation  was  intended  ;  saved  from  the  burden  and  pain  of 
that  "  issue  of  blood." 


Salvation  as  an  Act,  gj 

says,  "  Receive  thy  sight ;  thy  faith  hath  saved  thee." 
The  faith,  in  that  case,  was  shown  simply  by  calling 
upon  "  Jesus,  the  Son  of  David,"  with  earnest  and 
persistent  outcry  —  earnest,  disregarding  all  small 
questions  of  decorum ;  persistent  in  spite  of  all  re- 
bukes from  those  whose  frigid  propriety  bade  him 
hold  his  peace.  Happy  result  and  reward  of  per- 
sistent earnestness ! 

•How  like  the  sinner's  salvation,  and  entering  into 
peace,  is  this  man's  salvation  from  the  misery  of 
blindness  !  Luke,  who  records  that  gracious  miracle, 
gives  us  (in  Acts  ii.  21)  this  sweeping,  this  glorious 
evangelical  announcement :  "  And  it  shall  come  to 
pass,  that  whosoever  shall  call  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  saved."  He  gives  it  from  Peter,  whose 
Pentecost  sermon  he  is  there  reporting,  and  Peter 
avowedly  quotes  it  from  the  prophet  Joel.  Turning 
back  to  that  book  of  prophecy,  in  the  last  verse  of  its 
second  chapter,  you  will  read  :  "  And  it  shall  come  to 
pass,  that  whosoever  shall  call  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  delivered!'  An  inspired  apostle  inter- 
prets for  us  an  inspired  prophecy,  and  assures  us  that 
the  transition  is  made,  from  the  wretchedness  and 
exposure  of  sin  into  the  blessedness  of  assured  salva- 
tion, by  that  believing  acceptance  of  the  Lord,  which 
is  naturally  and  properly  signified  by  "  calling  on  His 
name."  The  natural  connection  between  the  mind 
and  the  mouth,  between  the  thoughts  of  the  heart 
5 


98  Sin  and  Salvation. 

and  the  utterances  of  the  tongue,  is  constantly  taken 
for  granted  in  Scripture.  It  is  assumed  that  whoever 
heartily  trusts  in  the  Lord  will  orally  call  upon  His 
name.  It  is  taken  for  granted  that  if  the  heart  is 
filled  with  grateful  confidence  in  His  mercy,  the 
mouth  will  "  show  forth  His  praise."  It  is  affirmed, 
that  "with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteous- 
ness ;  and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto 
salvation." — ROM.  x.  10.  Says  Dr.  McCosh  :  "  There 
may  be  prayer  where  there  are  no  words  employed, 
and  the  heart  may  move  when  the  lips  do  not  move. 
Still,  it  is  according  to  the  constitution  of  man  that 
out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  will 
speak ;  and  words,  while  forming  no  essential  part 
of  the  prayer,  will  essentially  aid  it,  by  keeping  the 
mind  from  falling  into  blankness  and  vacuity,  by  in- 
stigating and  guiding  it  in  a  certain  train  ;  in  short, 
they  furnish  cords  to  bind  the  sacrifice  to  the  altar, 
they  supply  a  censer  in  which  the  delicate  incense  of 
our  feelings  may  be  presented  before  the  Lord."* 

That  Christian  philosopher  thus  partly  explains  the 
utility  of  spoken  words  in  the  offering  of  prayer,  and 
in  cultivating  the  spirit  and  the  habit  of  prayer. 
Their  value  in  that  first  act  of  prayer,  wherein  a  soul 
commits  itself  to  God,  is  signally  exemplified  in  a 
narrative  given  by  the  late  Mr.  Finney,  in  his  "  Me* 


*  "Divine  Government,  Physical  and  Moral,"  p.  220. 


Salvation  as  an  Act.  99 

moirs."  It  is  the  account  of  the  conversion  of  Mr. 
H.,  of  Buffalo,  in  183 1.  I  transcribe  from  pp.  308- 
310  of  the  volume  : 

"  That  night  he  could  not  sleep.  His  mind  was  so  exercised 
that  he  rose  as.soon  as  there  was  any  light,  left  his  house  and 
went  off  to  a  considerable  distance,  where  there  was  then  a 
grove,  near  a  place  where  he  had  some  water-works,  which 
he  called  '  the  hydraulics.'  There  in  the  grove  he  knelt  down 
to  pray.  He  said  he  had  felt,  during  the  night,  as  if  he  must 
get  away  by  himself,  so  that  he  could  speak  aloud  and  let  out 
his  voice  and  his  heart,  as  he  was  pressed  beyond  endurance 
with  the  sense  of  his  sins,  and  with  the  necessity  of  immedi- 
ately making  his  peace  with  God.  But  to  his  surprise  and 
mortification,  when  he  knelt  down  and  attempted  to  pray,  he 
found  that  his  heart  would  not  pray.  He  had  no  words  ;  he 
had  no  desires  that  he  could  express  in  words.  He  said  that 
it  appeared  to  him  that  his  heart  was  as  hard  as  marble,  and 
that  he  had  not  the  least  feeling  on  the  subject.  He  stood 
upon  his  knees  disappointed  and  confounded,  and  found  that 
if  he  opened  his  mouth  to  pray,  he  had  nothing  in  the  form 
of  prayer  that  he  could  sincerely  utter. 

"In  this  state  it  occurred  to  him  that  he  could  say  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  So  he  began, '  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven.' 
He  said  as  soon  as  he  uttered  the  words,  he  was  convicted  of 
his  hypocrisy  in  calling  God  his  Father.  When  he  added  the 
petition,  '  Hallowed  be  thy  name,'  he  said  it  almost  shocked 
him.  He  saw  that  he  was  not  sincere,  that  his  words  did  not 
at  all  express  the  state  of  his  mind.  He  did  not  care  to  have 
God's  name  hallowed.  Then  he  uttered  the  next  petition, 
Thy  kingdom  come.'  Upon  this  he  said  he  almost  choked. 
He  saw  that  he  did  not  want  the  kingdom  of  God  to  come  ; 
that  it  was  hypocritical  in  him  to  say  so,  and  that  he  could 
not  say  it,  as  really  expressing  the  sincere  desire  of  his  heart. 
And  then  came  the  petition,  '  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as 
it  is  in  heaven.'  He  said  his  heart  rose  up  against  that,  and 
he  could  not  say  it.     Here  he  was  brought  face  to  face  with 


xoo  Sin  and  Salvation. 

the  will  of  God.  He  had  been  told  fr«m  day  to  day  that  he 
was  opposed  to  this  will ;  that  he  was  not  willing  to  accept 
it;  that  it  was  his  voluntary  opposition  to  God,  to  His  law, 
and  His  will,  that  was  the  obstacle  in  the  way  of  his  conver- 
sion, This  consideration  he  had  resisted  and  fought  with 
desperation.  But  here  on  his  knees,  with  the  Lord's  Prayer 
in  his  mouth,  he  was  brought  face  to  face  with  that  question  ; 
and  he  saw  with  perfect  clearness  that  what  he  had  been 
told  was  true  ;  that  he  was  not  willing  that  God's  will  should 
be  done ;  and  that  he  did  not  do  it  himself,  because  he 
would  not. 

"  Here  the  whole  question  of  his  rebellion,  in  its  nature  and 
its  extent,  was  brought  so  strongly  before  him,  that  he  saw 
it  would  cost  him  a  mighty  struggle  to  give  up  that  volun- 
tary opposition  to  God.  And  then,  he  said,  he  gathered  up 
all  the  strength  of  his  will  and  cried  aloud,  '  Thy  will  be 
done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven.'  He  said  he  was  per- 
fectly conscious  that  his  will  went  with  his  words ;  that  he 
accepted  the  will  of  God,  and  the  whole  will  of  God ;  that  he 
made  a  full  surrender  to  God,  and  accepted  Christ  just  as  He 
is  offered  in  the  Gospel.  He  gave  up  his  sins,  and  embraced 
the  will  of  God"  as  his  universal  rule  of  life.  The  language 
of  his  heart  was,  'Lord,  do  with  me  as  seemeth  thee  good.' 
'  Let  thy  will  be  done  with  me,  and  with  all  creatures  on 
earth,  as  it  is  done  in  heaven.'  He  said  he  prayed  freely,  as 
soon  as  his  will  surrendered  ;  and  his  heart  poured  itself  out 
like  a  flood.  His  rebellion  all  passed  away,  his  feelings  sub- 
sided into  a  great  calm,  and  a  sweet  peace  seemed  to  fill  his 
soul." 

Not  more  suddenly  did  turbulent  Gennesaret  set- 
tle into  level  tranquillity,  and  the  roar  of  that  angry 
tempest  cease  in  the  surrounding  hills,  when  the  voice 
of  Jesus  sent  out,  "  amid  the  howling  of  the  tempest," 
its  potent  "  Peace,  be  still."  It  was  a  sudden,  an  in 
stantaneous  stepping  over  from  the  territory  of  re- 


Salvation  as,  an  Act.* ' '•    '        101 

bellion  into  the  territory  of  submission.  It  was  an 
instantaneous  transition  from  the  tumult  of  hostil- 
ity to  God  into  the  quiet  of  reconciliation.  It  was 
a  sudden,  instantaneous  abandonment  of  self  and  ac- 
ceptance of  Christ.  It  was  an  immediate,  voluntary 
trustful  coming  into  union  with  Christ  in  cordial, 
affectionate,  obedient  confidence.  It  was  a  single, 
voluntary,  decisive  act  of  the  soul,  committing  itself 
to  Him,  attaching  itself  to  Him,  connecting  itself 
with  Him.  It  was  as  distinct  an  action,  as  voluntary, 
as  decisive,  as  instantaneous,  as  your  grasping  the 
plank  pushed  out  to  you  by  friendly  hands,  over  the 
edge  of  the  ice,  where  you  had  broken  through ;  and 
it  wrought  as  immediate  and  as  complete  a  rescue. 
There  was,  there  is  salvation,  in  that  first  honest, 
hearty  act  of  trust,  of  full  self-commitment  to  the 
gracious,  Almighty  Saviour. 


CHAPTER   II. 
DIVERSE  BEGINNINGS  OF  SALVATION. 

THE  decisive  act  of  the  beginning  of  salvation, 
recorded  at  the  close  of  the  preceding  chapter, 
was  the  conscious  bowing  of  a  human  will  to  the  will 
of  God.  It  was  a  mature  will,  a  strong  will,  an  obsti- 
nate will,  a  proud  will.  It  was  a  will  which,  in  its 
steadiness,  and  tenacity,  and  strength,  was  the  very 
back-bone  of  a  powerful  character,  of  a  sturdy  and 
energetic  manhood.  It  was  such  a  will  as  makes  its 
possessor  a  power  in  the  community  in  which  he  lives, 
a  significant  factor  in  the  problems  of  the  age  to 
which  he  belongs,  and  is  felt  effectively  and  memo- 
rably in  the  enterprises  and  in  the  history  of  his  time. 
Such  a  will,  having  matured  and  consolidated  in  im- 
penitence, in  selfness,  when  "  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  will  of  God,"  must  yield  and  bow  as,  happily, 
that  will  did,  or  else  stiffening  itself  in  obstinate  re- 
fusal, it  must  choose  the  attitude  of  rebellion,  and 
abide  the  result,  the  eternal  consequence.  Such  a 
will  was  that  of  him  who  so  suddenly  found  himself 
face  to  face  with  the  Lord  Jesus,  near  Damascus,  and 
there  yielding  to  Him,  in  full  surrender,  began  that 

memorable  apostolic  career.     Such  a  will  was  that  of 
(102) 


Diverse  Beginnings  of  Salvation.      103 

Him  in  Egypt,  who  found  himself  face  to  face  with 
Moses,  the  messenger  of  Jehovah  to  him,  and  who, 
hardening  his  heart  in  rebellious  obstinacy,  said, 
"Who  is  Jehovah,  that  I  should  obey  his  voice  to  let 
Israel  go  ?  I  know  not  Jehovah,  and  I  will  not  let 
Israel  go." — Ex.  v.  2.  In  every  age,  among  every 
people  to  whom  Jehovah  has  made  Himself  known, 
and  sent  His  word,  there  are  examples  of  such  de- 
cisive surrender,  and  of  such  determined  refusal — ex- 
amples also,  far  more  numerous,  of  as  real  refusal,  less 
courageously  made,  disguising  themselves  in  some 
such  cowardly  evasion  as  that  of  Felix,  "  Go  thy  way 
for  this  time ;  when  I  have  a  convenient  season,  I 
will  call  for  thee." — ACTS  xxiv.  25.  The  result  will  be 
the  same  to  you,  whether  you  politely  bow  the  Lord 
away  from  your  door  with  smooth  and  graceful  apol- 
ogy, or  rudely  bid  Him  begone. 

But  that  is  not  the  only  form  of  the  initial  act  in 
the  experience  of  salvation.  This  initial  act  is  fre- 
quently called  conversion.  The  word  fitly  describes 
such  a  change,  such  a  turning,  such  a  reversal  of  po- 
sition. The  experience  which  Mr.  Finney  so  graphi- 
cally describes,  was  doubtless  regarded  by  him,  and 
rightly  regarded,  as  a  clear  instance  of  conversion,  a 
memorable  and  instructive  instance.  There  were 
many  such  instances  in  his  time  and  under  his  preach- 
ing. It  was  a  type  of  conversion  to  which  conversion 
under  his  preaching  was  very  apt  to  conform,  to  which 


104  Sin  and  Salvation. 

his  preaching  was  fitted  to  lead,  whenever  the  accom 
panying  energy  of  the  Holy  Spirit  made  it  effectual ; 
for  that  preaching  necessarily  took  its  character  from 
the  qualities  of  his  own  mind,  and  the  type  of  his 
own  experience,  himself  a  man  of  uncommon  strength 
of  character,  converted  in  maturity  of  manhood,  and 
from  positive  and  mature  ungodliness. 

There  are  many  mature  men. now  needing  such  con- 
version as  much  as  those  men  needed  it,  in  the  pre- 
ceding generation.  One  can  hardly  help  wishing  that 
there  might  come  among  us  in  this  age,  such  another 
Elijah  the  prophet,  a  man  of  such  decisive  individu- 
ality, and  with  a  will  having  such  power  over  other 
wills.  It  would  be  a  fatal  mistake  for  such  men  to 
wait  for  any  such  human  leader.  It  is  hardly  more 
probable  that  this  age  will  have  a  Finney,  than  that 
it  will  have  an  Elijah.  The  question  whether  the 
mature  impenitent  men  of  to-day, — the  men  now  man- 
aging railroads,  and  telegraphs,  and  manufactories, 
and  commercial  enterprises,  enacting  and  expounding 
laws,  and  administering  governments, — shall  submit 
themselves  to  God,  and  commit  themselves  to  Christ, 
is  a  question  which  they  will  probably  have  to  settle 
in  the  clear,  dry  light  of  Scriptural  knowledge,  in 
which  they  have  grown  up  from  childhood,  and  which 
they  possess  in  a  way  favorable  to  calm  deliberation  and 
candid  decision,  but  not  likely  to  electrify  them  with 
sudden  and  overwhelming  conviction.    To  all  such,  we 


Diverse  Beginnings  of  Salvation.      105 

say  calmly,  yet  earnestly,  it  must  just  be  left  between 
you  and  God,  for  you  yourselves  to  choose,  whether  you 
will  serve  Him.  It  must  just  be  left  between  you  and 
Christ,  for  yourselves  to  decide,  whether  like  the 
fishermen  John,  and  Simon  Peter,  and  the  custom- 
house officer,  Matthew,  you  will  arise  and  follow 
Him ;  or  whether,  like  the  young  man,  in  whom  He 
was  so  kindly  interested,  but  who  lacked  one  thing, 
viz :  the  willingness  to  consecrate  his  property  to 
Hirm  you  will  "  go  away  sorrowful,"  and  remain  un- 
saved.— Luke  xviii.  18-24. 

I  have  spoken  of  that  instance  of  conversion  which 
Mr.  Finney  relates,  as  illustrating  a  type  of  conver- 
sion. So  speaking,  I  have  intimated  that  there 
are  different  types  of  conversion ;  that  while  in  all 
genuine  conversions  the  change,  which  the  word  ex- 
presses, is  radical  and  decisive,  it  is,  in  different  in- 
stances, attended  by  a  considerable  variety  of  con- 
scious and  manifested  experiences. 

This  variety  in  types  of  conversion  is  sufficiently 
illustrated  in  the  New  Testament,  in  the  instances  of 
conversion  recorded  by  the  inspired  writers,  and  which 
occurred  in  the  time  of  the  apostles. 

1 .  That  of  Saul  of  Tarsus. — This  was  of  the  same 
type  with  that  of  Mr.  H.  of  Buffalo.  It  is  a  mature 
mind  in  conscious  opposition  to  Christ,  suddenly  giv- 
ing up  that  opposition,  and  taking  the  attitude  of 

5* 


106  Sin  and  Salvation. 

voluntary  subjection  to  Him.  This  is  almost  certain 
to  be  preceded  by  violent  emotion  fitly  symbolized 
by  a  tempest,  and  followed  by  a  tranquillity  as  fitly 
represented  by  the  subsidence  of  such  a  storm  at  the 
miracle-doing  word  of  Jesus.  The  prominent  feature 
in  this  type  of  conversion  is  submission,  surrender  of 
the  human  will  to  the  will  of  God,  to  which  it  has 
been  in  conscious  rebellious  opposition,  and  the  right- 
ful supremacy  of  which  is  clearly  seen.  It  is  the 
giving  up  of  a  determination  known  and  felt  to  be 
wrong,  and  voluntary  subjection  to  an  authority  seen 
and  known  to  be  right.  It  is  not  a  breaking  down  of 
the  will.  The  energy  and  persistence  of  the  man, 
that  which  we  significantly  call  his  will-power,  may 
subsequently  be  found  undiminished,  and  may  carry 
him  on  a  career  which  shall  be  historic  and  memo- 
rable. There  have  been  no  stronger  human  wills 
than  those  which  have  been  most  decisive  in  their 
surrender,  and  most  persistent  in  their  submission  to 
the  will  of  jGod.  As  illustrations  of  this,  I  will  only 
name  Paul  in  the  first  century,  and  Mr.  Finney  him- 
self in  this  passing  century.  This  type  of  conversion 
does  not  crush  the  will,  does  not  enfeeble  it.  It  sim- 
ply regulates  it,  by  reducing  it  into  due  subordination 
to  the  will  of  God.  Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  this 
surrender  of  the  will  is  all  that  is  involved  in  such  a 
conversion.  Other  things,  no  doubt,  are  involved,  of 
which  I  shall  speak  more  particularly  as  connected 


Diverse  Beginnings  of  Salvation,      107 

with  other  types  of  conversion,  and  being  severally 
prominent  in  them  and  characteristic  of  them,  while 
this  type  is  characterized  by  this  one,  its  most  promi- 
nent feature.  In  such  a  conversion  as  Saul's  or  that 
of  Mr.  H.  in  Buffalo,  there  is  nothing  else  of  which 
the  soul  must  be  so  vividly  conscious,  at  the  time, 
nor  anything  else  so  memorable  to  it  ever  afterward, 
as  that  surrender  of  the  will.  Submission  to  the 
authority  and  the  will  of  God  is  such  a  soul's  conver- 
sion. 

2.  That  of  the  Jailer  (Acts  xvi.) — This  man  was 
not  probably  very  well  acquainted  with  the  Gospel. 
We  have  no  evidence  that  he  was  an  unusually  bad 
man.  About  such  a  man  as  we  should  expect  to  find 
a  Roman  officer  in  charge  of  a  prison  in  a  Roman 
province;  stern,  harsh,  not  tenderly  considerate  of 
prisoners  whom  he  had  been  strictly  charged  to  keep 
securely ;  a  worldly,  selfish  man,  we  may  well  believe 
him  to  have  been.  Yet  he  seems  not  to  have  been 
without*  conscience ;  and  his  conscience  was  not  so 
profoundly  asleep  but  that  it  woke  easily,  and  cried 
loudly  to  him,  when  the  earthquake  shook  open  the 
prison  doors.  He  recognized  in  this  a  divine  inter- 
position, an  interposition  of  the  God  of  those  strange 
prisoners.  Conscious  of  guilt,  and  fearing  the  wrath 
of  God,  and  quite  sure  that  those  prisoners  could 
teach  him  the  way  of  mercy,  if  there  was  a  way  of 
mercy  for  him,  he  came  trembling  to  them  and  cried 


108  Sin  and  Salvation. 

out :  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  It  was  honest 
terror  ;  nor  was  it  unmanly  terror.  It  is  not  coward- 
ice to  fear  God.  It  is  not  courage,  but  foolhardiness, 
not  to  be  afraid  of  His  judgments.  This  jailer 
knew  himself  to  be  a  sinner,  and  when  the  God  who 
had  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  and  could 
shake  them,  seemed  about  to  reveal  Himself  in  judg- 
ment, he  trembled  with  fear.  He  desired,  if  possible, 
to  be  saved  from  the  coming  wrath.  He  soon  learned 
from  his  prisoners  that  their  Master  was  the  Savior 
of  men  from  their  sins,  and  from  the  wrath  of  God, 
which  those  sins  deserve.  He  readily  accepted  this 
offer  of  salvation ;  took  the  Lord  Jesus  to  be  his 
Lord  and  his  Savior;  immediately  had  the  visible 
seal  of  this  acceptance  put  upon  him,  and  was  num- 
bered thenceforth  among  His  disciples. 

Here  is  not  a  conflict  of  wills,  a  human  will  first 
stiffening  itself  in  resolute  resistance  to  the  will  of 
God,  and  at  length  bowing  in  submission.  Doubtless 
the  surrender  of  his  will  to  the  authority  and  will  of 
God  is  involved.  But  this  is  not  the  prominent  and 
characteristic  feature,  in  this  case,  as  it  was  in  the 
other.  Neither  does  there  appear  to  have  been  any 
violent  struggle,  before  he  was  brought  to  this  surren- 
der. The  prominent  feature  here  is  the  believing  ac- 
ceptance of  offered'  salvation  from  a  fearful  exposure 
to  God's  just  anger.  The  season  of  distress  preceding 
the  full  relief  of  that  glad  acceptance  was  short,  sim- 


Diverse  Beginnings  of  Salvation,      iog 

ply  because  the  acceptance  came  so  soon — as  soon, 
apparently,  as  the  offer  and  the  opportunity  were 
clearly  seen  and  understood. 

"  O,  what  peace  men  often  forfeit ! 
O,  what  needless  pain  they  bear  !  " 

What  weary  and  tedious  months  of  gloom  and  de- 
spondency would  be  saved,  if  as  soon  as  Christ's  gra- 
cious offer  is  brought  to  them,  they  would  at  once 
heartily  and  trustingly  accept  it !  So  did  that  Phi- 
lippian  jailer,  and  the  clear  statement  of  his  case  by 
Luke,  gives  us  that  type  of  conversion, — a  sinner 
made  sensible  of  his  just  exposure  to  divine  wrath, 
and  promptly  accepting  Christ's  merciful  offer  of  de- 
liverance from  that  exposure.  One  thus  converted 
naturally  at  once  avows  his  discipleship,  associates 
himself  with  fellow-disciples,  takes  the  badge  of  dis 
cipleship  upon  him,  and  thenceforth  follows  the  Lord 
in  dutiful  and  thankful  service,  even  as  blind  Bartime- 
us,  as  soon  as  his  blindness  was  cured,  thankfully 
"  followed  Jesus  in  the  way." — Mark  x.  52. 

3.  That  of  the  Ethiopian  (Acts  viii.) — This  man 
was  found  by  the  Evangelist  Philip,  reading,  in  his 
chariot,  from  the  book  of  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah, 
that  wonderful  passage  concerning  the  Christ  being 
led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter ;  and  so  little  instructed 
was  he  that  he  did  not  even  know  of  whom  the  proph- 
et so  spoke,  whether  "  of  himself  or  of  some  other 


no  Sin  and  Salvation. 

man."  Philip  was  fresh  from  Jerusalem ;  he  was 
furnished  with  full  information  of  the  facts  which 
had  then  recently  fulfilled  that  precious  prophecy; 
he  was  sent  to  the  candid  inquirer  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  by  Him  doubtless  aided  in  instructing  him.  He 
soon  made  him  aware  that  Jesus,  slain  and  risen  again, 
was  the  Lamb  of  God  on  whom  all  our  sins  had  been 
laid,  and  "  by  whose  stripes  we  are  healed."  As  soon 
as  he  sees  this,  he  accepts  it ;  as  soon  as  they  come 
to  a  convenient  place,  he  avows  his  belief  in  Jesus, 
the  Christ,  and  seals  the  avowal  by  baptism ;  and  he 
"  goes  on  his  way  rejoicing."  There  is  no  account 
here  of  any  struggle  of  will  against  God's  will,  mak- 
ing the  final  surrender  a  marked  and  notable  feature 
of  the  experience.  There  is  no  account  of  any  ex- 
perience of  terror  in  view  of  exposure  to  God's  just 
wrath,  prompting  the  earnest  outcry,  "  What  must  I 
do  to  be  saved  ?  "  There  is  clearly  enough  implied 
the  confession  of  guilt,  and  we  may  fairly  presume 
that  this  was  accompanied  with  the  candid  acknowl- 
edgment of  just  exposure  to  the  penalty  of  ski. 
But  so  far  as  appears,  the  whole  mind  was  tranquil, 
thoughtful,  teachable,  and  pre-eminently  candid.  The 
prominent  feature  in  this  case  is  the  prompt  and  glad 
acceptance  of  Christ,  the  Savior,  just  as  soon  as  the 
soul  knows  Him,  and  knows  itself  privileged  to  ac- 
cept Him.  And  let  us  not  fail  to  observe  that  it  is 
clearly  and  pre-eminently  as  our  substitute,  suffering 


Diverse  Begi7inings  of  Salvation.       1 1 1 

vicariously  for  us,  that  Jesus  was  presented  to  the 
Ethiopian  by  Philip  and  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and 
that  in  that  character  the  Ethiopian  accepted  Him, 
and  "  went  on  his  way  rejoicing,"  a  relieved,  saved, 
happy  man,  the  most  gladsome  man,  we  may  well  be- 
lieve, though  the  most  conscientious  man,  thenceforth, 
of  all  Candace's  courtiers,  and  of  all  her  subjects. 

Can  any  observant  person  fail  to  see  that  this  is 
the  prevalent  type  of  conversion  under  the  preach- 
ing of  the  favored  evangelist  of  our  time,  who  on  a 
conspicious  and  memorable  occasion,  announced  that 
53d  chapter  of  Isaiah  as  his  printed  creed  ?  The  ration- 
alism of  our  time  loftily  criticises  this  evangelist's  con- 
tinual presentation  of  "the  blood''' ;  yet  is  compelled 
to  confess  the  efficacy  of  his  preaching  in  winning 
and  saving  men  from  vicious  and  unclean  lives,  as  no 
bloodless  teaching  and  extolling  of  Jesus'  precepts 
and  examples-  has  shown  itself  able  to  win  and  to 
save.  Doubtless  Mr.  Moody  knows  that  in  "  the 
blood"  is  the  very  "  hiding  of  the  power"  of  that 
Gospel  which  he  so  diligently  and  so  successfully 
preaches.  His  whole  labor  is  to  convince  men  that 
"  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin," 
and  to  persuade  them  to  accept  its  cleansing  from 
theirs.  The  more  speedily  they  thus  accept  it,  with 
the  less  of  delay,  of  struggling,  of  endurance,  of  dis- 
tress, and  fear,  and  doubt,  and  despondency,  the  bet- 
ter. 


ii2  Sin  and  Salvation. 

Another  example  of  this  type  of  conversion  seems 
to  me  to  be  given  in  the  same  chapter.  It  is  the  case 
of  Lydia.  She  was  evidently  a  respectable,  virtuous, 
serious  woman.  She  is  even  spoken  of  as  one  who 
"  worshiped  God."  This  may  even  justify  a  doubt, 
whether,  when  she  sat  there  by  the  river-side,  with 
other  women  who  resorted  to  that  place  of  prayer, 
she  needed  conversion.  We  need  not  try  to  solve  that 
doubt.  She  at  least  did  not  know  Jesus  as  the  Christ. 
The  presumption  is  that  she  did  not  know  God's  way  of 
peace,  though  she  revered  God,  and  desired  to  find  ac- 
cess to  Him.  But  she  was  attentive  ;  she  was  candid  ; 
she  was  teachable.  The  Lord  made  her  so.  "The  Lord 
opened  her  heart,  that  she  attended  unto  the  things 
that  were  spoken  of  Paul."  The  result  was  the  nat- 
ural and  proper  result  of  candid  attention  to  any 
serious  communication.  She  acted  according  to  its 
import.  She  accepted  it,  and  at  once  put  her  life  un- 
der its  directing  influence.  So  far  as  appears,  there 
was  as  little  of  tumult  in  her  mind  about  it,  as  little 
of  agitation  or  struggle,  and  just  as  quiet,  and  straight- 
forward, and  decisive  proceeding,  as  in  accepting  an 
offer  for  a  quantity  of  the  purple  which  she  used  to 
sell — just  as  little  as  there  might  have  been  in  the 
mind  of  so  sensible  a  woman,  in  accepting  a  proposal 
of  marriage  from  a  man  whom  she  had  long  known 
and  thoroughly  esteemed,  when  frankly  informed  by 
him  of  his  love  and  his  desire  to  make  her  his  wife 


Diverse  Beginnings  of  Salvation.      113 

Believing,  affectionate,  sincere  acceptance  is  the  es 
sential  thing'  in  the  true  union  of  two  souls  in  mar 
riage.  Believing,  affectionate,  sincere  acceptance  is 
the  essential  thing  in  the  union  of  a  soul  with  Christ. 
In  each  case,  it  is  the  acceptance  of  a  person,  in  view 
of  what  he  is  known  to  be,  justifying  the  full  trust  in 
him  for  all  for  which  he  offers  himself. 

This  quiet,  thoughtful  type  of  conversion  is  unques- 
tionably as  genuine  and  scriptural  as  either  of  those  of 
which  the  phenomena  are  more  striking  and  startling. 
I  believe  it  to  be  the  type  in  which  conversion  is  more 
apt  to  occur  among  people  long  acquainted  with  the 
Bible,  and  accustomed  reverently  to  attend  upon  pub- 
lic worship  and  preaching.  I  seriously  fear  that  some, 
needing  conversion,  feeling  their  need  of  it,  and  hav- 
ing now  the  opportunity  for  it,  are  prevented  from  ex- 
periencing it  by  failing  to  see  that  the  Scriptures  do 
offer  them  this  type  of  conversion.  They  are  waiting 
for  some  conscious  struggle  with  God,  giving  them 
opportunity  to  surrender  to  Him,  or  for  a  conscious 
terror  in  view  of  their  known  exposure,  which  long 
use  has  made  them  able  to  think  of  without  tremor. 
They  have  been  scripturally  taught,  and  they  believe, 
that  they  must  be  moved  and  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  to  any  true  acceptance  of  the  Savior ;  but  they 
fail  to  see  (perhaps  because  they  have  not  herein  been 
scripturally  taught),  that  the  calm  thoughtfulness  of 
which  they  are  conscious,  and  the  clear  perception 


ii4  Sin  and  Salvation. 

which  they  have  of  their  need  and  of  Christ's  suf- 
ficiency, are  truly  the  work  of  God's  Spirit  within 
them.  Dear  reader,  in  simply  yielding  to  this  gentle 
influence,  in  voluntarily  going  the  way  it  leads,  you 
would  be  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and  "  as  many  as 
are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  sons  of  God." — 
Rom.  viii.  14. 


U 


CHAPTER   III. 

WHAT  IS   ESSENTIAL  TO  THE   BEGINNING  OF 
SALVATION. 

WE  have  seen  that  the  beginning  of  salva- 
tion, in  the  experience  of  any  human  soul, 
may  have  considerable  variety  of  conscious  and 
manifested  phenomena.  We  have  found  several  dis- 
tinct types  of  conversion  in  the  narratives  given  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  ;  and  we  have  found  these 
different  types  exemplified  in  our  own  age.  We 
have  seen  mature  persons  making  the  transition  from 
ungodliness  to  piety,  which  the  word  conversion 
properly  expresses,  by  a  sudden  and  conscious  sub- 
mission of  the  will  to  God,  after  a  season  of  stiff  and 
resolute  opposition,  or  of  violent  and  bitter  conflict. 
Others  we  have  seen  terrified  by  a  serious  and  just 
apprehension  of  exposure  to  the  righteous  anger  of 
God,  and  to  utter  and  hopeless  destruction,  learning 
that  Christ  Jesus  offers  them  salvation  ^rom  that 
exposure,  and  finding  speedy  relief  in  cordial  accept- 
ance of  that  gracious  offer.  We  have  seen  still  others 
made  aware  of  their  guilt  and  exposure,  and  of  the 
opportunity  to  be  saved  from  both  by  the  Lord 
Jesus,   at   once    quietly  and   calmly,  but    decisively 

(115) 


1 1 6  Sin  and  Salvation. 

embracing  the  opportunity,  and  "  going  on  their 
way  rejoicing."  In  either  case,  the  acceptance  oi 
Christ,  being  sincere  and  real,  will  be  evidenced  by 
the  abandonment  of  whatever  the  person  believes  to 
be  displeasing  to  Christ,  and  by  the  honest  endeavor 
to  follow  Him  in  the  way  of  hearty  obedience.  In 
all  these  cases,  no  doubt,  the  same  elements  of  faith 
and  repentance  are  involved  ;  but  in  one  class  of 
cases,  one  feature  of  the  experience  is  prominent  and 
characteristic,  and  another  in  another. 

These  varieties  of  type  in  conversion  are  probably 
occasioned  by  differences  of  temperament,  of  mental 
development  and  culture,  of  age,  of  habits,  and  of 
the  circumstances  in  which  the  conversion  occurs. 
It  is  not  important,  nor  is  it  best,  for  those  needing 
conversion,  to  concern  themselves  about  these  dif- 
ferent types  of  it  any  further  than  this.  They  need 
to  know  that  there  are  different  types,  and  therefore 
they  need  not  be  hindered  or  discouraged  in  seeking 
salvation,  because  they  do  not  find  their  own  minds 
affected  as  they  know  that  some  other  mind  has 
been  with  which  they  have  been  acquainted,  or  of 
which  the^  have  read,  in  religious  biography,  or  in 
the  Bible.  It  is  important  to  see  what  is  essential, 
and  common  to  all  types  of  genuine  conversion,  and 
not  to  be  diverted  from  attention  to  this  by  having 
the  mind  occupied  with  what  is  variable  and  unes- 
sential.    The  decisive  thing,  in  every  case,  is  the  ac- 


What  is  Essential  to  Salvation.        117 

ccptance  of  JESUS  CHRIST,  as  He  is  offered  in  the 
Gospel.  "  As  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave 
he  power  to  become  children  of  God,  even  to  them 
that  believe  on  his  name." — John  i.  12.  "  Therefore 
if  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature." — 2 
Cor.  v.  17. 

This  beginning  act  of  salvation,  the  soul's  accept- 
ance of  Christ,  may  properly  be  still  held  before  us 
for  further  study.  We  can  not  study  it  too  thor- 
oughly. We  can  not  contemplate  it  too  often  nor 
too  earnestly.     Let  us  consider  what  it  involves. 

1.  The  soul  must  be  informed  of  the  truth,  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Savior  of  men  from  sin.  "  How 
shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard  ?  " — Rom.  x.  14. 

All  our  work,  as  ministers,  as  Sabbath-school  teach- 
ers, as  parents,  or  in  any  way,  for  the  salvation  of  men 
or  of  children,  begins  with  giving  them  information, 
communicating  truth  to  them,  making  truth  known  to 
them,  and  helping  them  to  understand  it.  So  it  was 
in  the  preaching  of  the  apostles,  and  in  all  evangeliz- 
ing in  their  time,  and  always  since.  When  Philip, 
by  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  "  went  near  and 
joined  himself  to  that  chariot,"  in  which  the  Ethi- 
opian eunuch  was  riding  (Acts  viii.  29),  it  was  for  the 
purpose  of  helping  him  understand  what  he  was 
reading.  Philip's  plain  exposition  of  that  Scripture 
soon  made  it  evident  to  that  candid  and  teachable 


n8  Sin  and  Salvation. 

man,  that  He  whom  the  prophet  there  foretold  (to  be 
"led  as  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter")  was  Jesus  of  Gal- 
ilee, lately  slain  in  Jerusalem,  and  who  had  risen 
from  the  dead  and  ascended  into  heaven.  The  mind 
of  the  inquirer  had  first  to  be  furnished  with  this 
information,  to  be  made  the  possessor  of  this  truth. 
So  also  must  Lydia  first  "  attend  unto  the  things 
which  were  spoken  by  Paul "  (Acts  xvi.  14).  Atten- 
tion is  the  voluntary  act  of  a  hearer,  whereby  his  mind 
takes  the  truth  which  a  speaker  delivers,  and  without 
which  the  speaking  will  be  mere  sound,  empty  and 
ineffective.  The  two  actions,  truthful  speaking  and 
attentive  hearing,  must  concur  in  order  that  the 
hearer's  soul  may  really  have  possession  of  the  truth 
by  means  of  which  it  is  to  be  saved. 

2.  The  soul  must  sincerely  accept  the  truth  which 
is  thus  communicated  to  it.  That  word  accept  is  a 
great  word.  It  is  a  deep  word.  We  have  no  plum- 
met which  we  can  drop  to  the  bottom  of  its  meaning. 
"  It  means  everything."  And  yet  it  is  a  very  simple 
word.  It  is  a  very  simple  thing  which  it  expresses. 
Do  not  miss  the  simplicity  of  its  meaning :  then  you 
need  not  lose  its  depth. 

You  accept  an  offered  bargain  :  so  many  yards  of 
cloth,  or  so  many  acres  of  land,  at  so  much  an  acre, 
or  so  much  a  yard.  This  means  that  your  whole 
mind  assents  to  the  representation  made  to  you  con- 
cerning the  value  of  the  property  and  its  desirableness 


What  is  Essential  to  Salvation.        119 

to  you  as  a  possession,  and  that  you  will  act  accord- 
ingly. You  will  take  possession  of  the  property,  and 
will  honestly  pay  the  stipulated  price.  You  will  do 
all  that  the  transaction  implies,  all  that  the  bargain 
means. 

You  accept  an  invitation  to  dine  with  a  friend. 
This  means  not  only  that  you  are  informed  of  his 
sending  you  an  invitation,  and  acknowledge  that  the 
messenger  has  faithfully  delivered  it  to  you,  but  also 
that  you  agree  to  do  that  which  it  offers  you  the 
privilege  of  doing.  Your  friend  may  expect  you  to 
be  at  his  table. 

A  gift  is  sent  to  you,  in  token  of  friendly  regard. 
Your  acceptance  of  it  implies  your  grateful  apprecia- 
tion of  that  friendly  regard,  your  willingness  to  be  so 
regarded.  You  and  the  giver  are  friends.  Sincerity 
and  self-respect  would  require  you  to  refuse  the  gift, 
if  you  could  not  honestly  assent  to  that  which  it  sig- 
nifies and  seals. 

You  are  in  want ;  have  not  wherewith  to  purchase 
bread  or  fuel  or  needed  clothing.  Food,  fuel,  cloth- 
ing, or  money  to  purchase  them  is  sent  to  you  by  a 
benevolent  person.  If  you  accept  it,  you  not  only 
take  and  use  the  material  benefit,  but  take  the  posi- 
tion and  relation  of  a  beneficiary,  and  take  upon  you 
the  indebtedness,  the  duty  of  gratitude.  If  your 
heart  is  right,  it  responds  with  actual  conscious  grati- 
tude, which  your  mouth  will  express,  and  your  con- 


120  Sin  and  Salvation. 

duct  will  manifest.  Nothing  short  of  this  would  be 
a  true,  a  real  acceptance. 

You  have  done  wrong,  and  he  whom  you  have 
injured  is  ready  to  forgive  you.  Acceptance  of  his 
forgiveness  is  not  a  reality,  if  you  are  still  cherishing 
the  wrong  disposition,  ready  to  repeat  the  injury. 

You  accept  an  offer  of  marriage.  This  means,  not 
merely  that  you  have  received  the  offer,  not  merely 
that  you  know  of  it  as  a  fact,  and  believe  it  to  be 
sincerely  and  honorably  made  ;  it  means  that  you 
respond  to  all  that  it  proposes ;  give  all  that  it  asks  ; 
consent  to  enter  into  the  relation  which  it  contem- 
plates ;  surrender  yourself  to  the  affectionate  and 
honorable  possession  which  it  means.  That  accept- 
ance  of  a  person,  offering  himself  for  such  a  per- 
manent union,  involves  the  giving  yourself  to  him 
in  the  corresponding  self-commitment,  and  binding 
yourself  with  him,  in  the  mutual  obligation,  and  the 
indissoluble  union.  That  acceptance  means  every- 
thing, involves  everything  which  the  proposal  means. 
No  other  acceptance,  in  human  and  earthly  affairs, 
means  so,  much,  because  no  other  proposal  has  so 
much  in  it.  Acceptance  of  any  proposal  —  honest 
and  real  acceptance — means  everything  that  is  in  that 
proposal. 

How  much  is  there  —  let  us  now  consider  —  in 
Christ's  proposal  ?  What  is  fairly  meant,  when  a  soul 
accepts  Him  ? 


What  is  Essential  to  Salvation.       121 

1.  It  does  not  mean  that  the  accepting  soul  fully 
understands  Him.  Some  souls  are  troubled  and  hin- 
dered by  the  fact  that,  as  soon  as  they  seriously 
think  of  Jesus,  and  begin  earnestly  to  study  what  is 
written  of  Him  in  the  Word  of  God,  they  find  that 
there  is  a  great  deal  written  which  they  can  not  under- 
stand. The  meek,  kind  man,  "  who  went  about  do- 
ing good,"  in  Galilee  and  Judea,  always  gentle,  com- 
passionate, considerate,  helpful ;  always  truthful,  ear- 
nest, faithful ;  always  patient,  forbearing,  forgiving ; 
all  this  seems  not  difficult  to  understand.  Even  His 
miracles,  healing  the  sick,  giving  sight  to  the  blind, 
walking  on  the  sea,  raising  the  dead,  are  not  difficult 
to  understand,  from  the  common-sense  point  of  view 
which  Nicodemus  took  (John  iii.  2).  He  is  "  a  teacher 
come  from  God,"  and  "  God  is  with  him,"  sealing 
Him  as  His  messenger.  The  power  of  God  is  present 
in  this  man,  to  do  all  these  wonders.  This  is  plain 
enough.  The  unlettered  peasant  can  understand  it 
as  well  as  the  learned  scholar.  The  little  child  can 
understand  it  as  well  as  the  wise  man.  But  when  we 
find  this  Jesus,  not  only  speaking  for  God,  like  Isaiah 
and  Elijah  and  Moses,  and  doing  miracles  to  show 
that  He  has  authority  to  speak  for  God,  and  that 
God  is  with  Him,  while  He  speaks  ;  but  also  find 
Him  claiming  to  have  come  into  this  world,  not  as 
other  men  do,  coming  then  into  being,  but  down 
from  a  higher  world  and  glorious  state,  in  which  He 


122  Sin  and  Salvation. 

was  "  in  the  beginning,"  and  is  eternally  ; — when  we 
find  the  Scripture  asserting  that  He  "  was  in  the  be- 
ginning with  God,  and  was  God  ;  that  He  and  the 
Divine  Father  are  one,  so  that  whoever  hath  seen 
Him  hath  seen  the  Father — surely  here  we  find  some- 
thing which  we  can  not  understand.  This  man  Jesus, 
real  and  true  man  as  He  evidently  is,  is  also  as  evi- 
dently something  besides,  something  higher,  some- 
thing grander.  We  see  in  Him  all  that  belongs  to 
our  human  nature,  except  its  sin ;  but  we  also  see  a 
higher  nature,  and  are  constrained  even  to  adore  Him 
as  God.  Yet  He  Himself  forbid  us,  and  all  His  apos- 
tles, taught  and  commissioned  by  Him,  forbid  us  to 
believe  in  more  Gods  than  oite.  Then  God,  the  true 
and  only  God,  Jehovah  eternal,  is  here  "  manifested  in 
flesh,"  the  great  "  mystery  of  godliness."  We  can  not 
understand  this.     It  "  passeth  knowledge." 

Equally  unable  may  we  be  to  understand  His  work. 
How  He,  in  His  innocence,  can  take  our  sins  upon 
Him  ;  how  He,  the  just,  the  holy,  can  righteously 
suffer  for  us,  the  unjust,  the  sinful ;  how  the  pain  and 
the  shame  which  He  willingly  bore,  can  rightly  be 
substituted  for  the  shame  and  woe  which  we,  for  our 
sins,  deserved  ;  this  also  we  may  be  unable  to  under- 
stand. Some  may  think  that  they  understand  it. 
Let  us  not  dispute  with  them  ;  but  no  more  let  us  be 
alarmed  or  disheartened  if  they  fail  to  make  us  under- 
stand it,  with  all  their  explanations.     It  is  not  neces- 


What  is  Essential  to  Salvation.       123 

sary.  God  understands  it.  When  He  makes  us  a 
plain  offer,  we  may  be  sure  that  He  understands  what 
He  is  doing.  When  He  assures  us  that  Christ's 
sacrifice  does  expiate  human  guilt ;  does  remove 
the  necessity  of  punishing  us  for  the  vindication  of 
His  justice  ;  does  render  it  possible  for  Him  to  "  be 
just  and  the  justifier  of  every  one  who  believeth  " 
(Rom.  iii.  26) — can  not  we  take  all  that  to  be  true,  on 
God's  Word  for  it,  simply  because  He  says  it,  how- 
ever unable  we  may  be  to  understand  how  it  all  can 
be,  or  however  unsatisfactory  may  be  all  the  attempts 
of  theologians  to  explain  it,  to  make  us  understand  it. 

2.  That  is  just  what  we  have  to  do ;  to  take  all 
that  to  be  true,  which  God  thus  says  to  us ;  to  take 
all  that  to  be  sincere,  which  God  offers  to  us ;  to  take 
all  that  to  be  reliable,  which  God  proposes  to  us ;  to 
believe  all  that  to  have  been  fully  accomplished, 
which  Christ,  His  eternal  Son,  incarnate,  undertook 
for  us.  We  have  just  to  believe  this,  to  take  it  to  be 
true,  not  because  we  can  explain  it,  nor  because  any 
one  can  explain  it  to  us  ;  but  just  because  God  says  it. 

3.  Such  full  and  hearty  belief  of  God's  testimony 
and  proposals  concerning  His  Son,  prepares  the  way 
for,  and  justifies  the  consent  of,  the  will,  which  makes 
the  act  of  acceptance  complete. 

This  final  consummating  act  of  acceptance,  has  been 
called  "  the  faith  of  a  transaction,"*  and  has  been  W 


By  Dr.  Bushnell.     Sermons  "  For  the  New  Life." 


124  Sin  and  Salvation. 

lustrated  somewhat  as  follows:  A  man  goes  to  his 
neighbor  with  a  proposal,  that  he  shall  invest  a  sum 
of  money  in  a  business  enterprise.  Let  it  be  the  con- 
struction of  a  railroad.  The  first  thing  he  has  to  do 
is  to  give  him  the  needed  information,  to  furnish  him 
the  facts  on  which  his  decision  must  be  based.  He 
lays  before  him  the  survey  of  the  tract  of  country 
through  which  the  road  is  to  pass ;  shows  him  the 
practicability  of  the  route,  and  the  reasonable  ex- 
pense of  construction  ;  gives  him  the  statistics  of 
trade  between  the  points  which  the  road  is  to  con- 
nect, and  the  populousness  of  the  towns  and  districts 
along  the  route  ;  in  short,  furnishes  him  with  all  the 
information  needed  for  forming  an  intelligent  judg- 
ment. Let  us  suppose  that  all  these  facts  are  seen 
and  admitted  to  be  satisfactory.  The  man  assents  to 
the  statements,  and  admits  the  validity  of  the  argu- 
ment founded  on  them.  He  says:  "Yes,  I  see;  I 
am  convinced  that  this  is  a  practicable  enterprise, 
and  that  it  is  a  wise  investment."  The  only  question 
that  now  remains  is  this  :  "  Will  you  invest  ?  "  This 
is  not  a  question  for  the  intellect,  but  for  the  will. 
The  intellect  has  done  its  work,  and  finished  it.  The 
facts  are  all  seen  ;  have  all  been  examined  ;  have  all 
been  weighed.  The  figuring  is  all  done.  The  esti- 
mates are  all  made.  The  thinking  is  finished.  Any 
more  thinking  is  not  only  superfluous,  but  bewilder- 
ing or  debilitating.     The  only  thing  now  to  be  done 


What  is  Essential  to  Salvation.       125 

is  to  decide  :  Will  you  invest  ?  The  question  nc 
longer  is  :  "  What  do  you  think  ?  " — that  is  answered. 
The  question  now  is:  "What  will  you  do?"  That 
is  the  only  question.  This  is  the  question  to  prepare 
for  which  all  the  previous  investigation  was  made. 
Before  the  investigation  this  question  would  have 
been  premature.  Except  as  a  preparation  for  this, 
the  investigation  would  have  been  useless.  In  the 
answer  to  this  question  the  will  is  concerned.  This 
is  a  decision  of  the  mind,  a  decision  of  the  man, 
whether  he  will  commit  the  interest  in  question  to 
the  view  of  truth  which  has  won  the  consent  of  his 
understanding.  If  he  says,  "  I  will  do  it " — if  he 
takes  his  pen,  and  subscribes  the  instrument — if  he 
draws  his  check,  and  delivers  it,  accepting  the  receipt 
or  the  certificate  or  the  bond  in  return — then  he  has 
exercised  "  the  faith  of  a  transaction."  The  faith  is 
now  consistent  and  complete.  The  whole  man  is 
in  it. 

The  same  thing  is  true  when  you  are  proposing  to 
yourself  a  voyage  across  the  sea.  You  obtain  all 
needed  information  concerning  a  particular  ocean 
steamer,  information  concerning  her  sea-worthiness, 
the  competency  of  her  commander,  the  fidelity  of 
her  crew,  etc.  All  these  being  satisfactory,  you  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be  safe  and  wise  to 
embark.  All  this  amounts  to  nothing  unless  you  de- 
cide that  you  will  embark.     Then  your  will  enters 


126  Sin  and  Salvation. 

into  your  belief,  and  quickens  it  into  "  the  faith  of  a 
transaction." 

If  by  similar  investigation  and  consideration  of 
facts,  you  conclude  that  a  serious  surgical  operation 
is  necessary,  and  that  the  surgeon  whom  you  have 
consulted  is  competent  and  faithful,  your  faith  in 
that  surgeon  becomes  complete  and  effective  as  "  the 
faith  of  a  transaction,"'  when  you  stretch  yourself  out 
on  the  couch  and  take  the  chloroform.  Thus  you  not 
merely  declare  your  belief  in  the  skill  and  fidelity  of 
the  surgeon,  but  you  actually  commit  yourself  to 
him.  Human  life  abounds  with  transactions  which 
are  thus  the  simple  consummation  of  faith.  The 
Christian  life  begins  with  such  a  transaction.  A  soul 
made  acquainted  with  the  Lord  Jesus,  furnished  from 
holy  Scripture  with  all  requisite  information  concern- 
ing Him,  convinced  that  He  is  the  all-sufficient  and 
the  only  Savior  from  sin,  then  just  takes  Him  as 
such  ;  takes  Him  as  He  offers  Himself,  and  thence- 
forth relies  upon  Him. 


CHAPTER   IV. 
EARLY  BEGINNING  OF  SALVATION. 

THE  Scriptures  have  not  left  us  without  examples 
of  personal  spiritual  salvation  beginning  in  very 
early  life.  There  are  many  reasons  for  regarding  such 
early  beginning  as  both  entirely  practicable  and  alto- 
gether desirable.  Two  notable  instances  of  this  are 
that  of  Samuel  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  that  of 
Timothy  in  the  New  Testament.  We  also  have  pre- 
cious and  memorable  words  of  our  Lord,  assuring  all 
children  that  they  may  come  to  Him,  and  belong  to 
His  kingdom,  and  encouraging  all  who  have  the  care 
of  children,  and  who  love  them,  to  bring  them  to 
Him.  Nay,  it  is  worthy  of  being  carefully  noted, 
that  He  charges  us  all  not  to  hinder  little  children 
from  coming  to  Him.  He  saw  that  we  would  be  in 
danger  of  this  ;  that  even  religious  teachers  and  pas- 
tors would  be  apt  positively  to  prevent  children  from 
coming  or  being  brought  to  Him.  Certainly  none  of 
us  intend  anything  so  cruel  as  that.  But  we  are — 
any  of  us — liable  not  to  understand  the  feelings  and 
the  needs  of  children.     Even  more  liable  are  we  not 

to  understand,  and  so  not  to  let  the  children  under- 

(127) 


128  Sin  and  Salvation. 

stand,  that  the  salvation  of  Christ  is  for  them  as  well 
as  for  grown-up  people  ;  for  them  now,  not  by  and 
by  ;  for  them  especially,  and  that  they  can  better  and 
more  easily  take  it  now  than  at  any  time  hereafter. 
Our  Lord's  treatment  of  little  children,  and  His 
words  concerning  them,  do  fairly  teach  all  this. 

How  early  may  salvation  from  sin  begin  in  the 
experience  of  a  child  ?  How  young  may  a  child  be 
a  Christian  ?  At  how  early  an  age  can  that  change 
take  place,  which  is  commonly  and  properly  called 
conversion,  and  which  is  the  passing  of  a  soul  out  of 
the  state  of  impenitence  into  that  of  true  piety  ? 
We  have  seen  that  this  change  may  be  experienced 
under  a  considerable  variety  of  forms  or  types,  and 
we  have  tried  to  ascertain  what  is  essential  to  it  under 
all  these  forms.  If  we  should  find  that  some  of  these 
forms  of  conversion  never  occur  in  early  childhood, 
it  might  still  be  that  it  should  be  possible  for  little 
children  to  experience  it  under  other  forms.  It  seems 
not  unlikely  that  the  difference  between  childhood 
and  maturity  should  account  in  a  large  degree  for  the 
difference  between  one  type  of  conversion  and  an- 
other. By  this  I  mean  that  it  would  seem  natural  to 
expect  that  one  converted  in  early  childhood  should 
not  have  all  the  same  feelings  and  exercises  of  mind 
with  one  converted  in  maturity.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  I  believe  there  is  as  real  diversity  among 
the  experiences  of  children  as  among  those  of  men 


Early  Beginning  of  Salvation.        129 

and  women  —  as  real,  if  not  as  great  difference,  be- 
tween the  conversion  of  one  child  and  that  of  another 
as  between  the  conversion  of  one  man  and  that  of 
another — e.g.,  between  the  conversion  of  Saul  of  Tar- 
sus and  that  of  the  Ethiopian  eunuch.  A  child,  as 
truly  as  a  man,  may  find  the  decisive  point  of  this 
experience  in  some  conflict  of  his  will  with  the  will 
of  God,  in  some  way  made  known  to  him  ;  and  his 
actual  submission,  his  consent  to  be  controlled  by  the 
will  of  God  may  be  the  beginning  act  of  his  salvation 
as  decisively  as  it  was  with  Mr.  H.  in  Buffalo*,  or  with 
Saul  near  Damascus.  The  practical  issue  between 
God  and  the  little  child  is  not  likely  to  be  the  same 
as  between  God  and  the  mature  man.  With  the 
mature  man  it  does  not  always  come  in  the  form  in 
which  Mr.  H.  met  it,  in  the  general  and  comprehen- 
sive question,  "  Can  I  sincerely  say,  \  Thy  will  be 
done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven '  ?  "  Sometimes  it 
comes  as  a  more  specific  question — "  Will  I  do  this 
particular  thing  which  God  requires  of  me,  and  be- 
cause He  requires  it  ?  "  Or,  "  Will  I  abandon  this 
particular  indulgence,  or  practice,  or  interest,  simply 
because  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  God's  will  that  I 
should  abandon  it?"  Just  as  Adam  and  Eve  broke 
away  from  their  happy  state  of  willing  subjection  to 
the  will  of  God,  by  making  up  their  minds  to  disobey 
Him  in  a  particular  case,  to  do  a  particular  thing 
which  He  had  forbidden,  so  a  soul  may  return  into 
6* 


130  Sin  and  Salvation. 

the  state  of  willing  subjection  to  the  will  of  God,  in 
the  act  of  obeying  a  particular  command.  Doubtless 
the  first  act  of  real  and  sincere  obedience  to  God  is 
the  act  of  a  renewed  or  converted  soul,  as  certainly 
as  the  first  act  of  disobedience  was  the  act  of  a  fallen 
soul.  In  the  case  of  a  child,  there  is  a  close  connec- 
tion between  the  authority  of  God  and  the  authority 
of  its  parents.  God  deals  with  little  children  mainly 
through  their  parents.  The  duty  of  obedience  to  the 
father  and  the  mother  is  probably  the  first  duty  of 
which  most  children  become  conscious.  The  com- 
mand, "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,"  is  not 
only  "  the  first  commandment  with  promise,"  but 
often,  no  doubt,  the  first  commandment  which  a 
child  knows  as  a  commandment  of  God,  and  which 
he  feels  bound  to  obey.  The  direct  struggle  of  the 
little  child's  will  may  most  probably  be  with  the  will 
of  the  parent.  There  may  be  a  struggle  between  a 
parent  and  child,  which  is  full  of  selfish  passion  and 
obstinacy  on  both  sides.  The  parent  may  be  simply 
determined  to  subdue  the  child — to  make  the  child's 
obstinacy  yield  to  his  own  arbitrariness — the  child's 
passion  to  his  stronger  passion  —  the  child's  selfish 
desire  to  be  gratified  or  to  have  his  own  way,  to  the 
parent's  equally  selfish  desire  to  be  gratified  or  to 
have  his  own  way.  Here  strength  may  overpower 
and  crush  down  weakness  with  no  more  moral  or 
spiritual  effect  than  when  a  sturdy  ram  butts  back- 


Early  Beginning  of  Salvation.         131 

ward  a  too  adventurous  lamb.  But  when  a  thought- 
ful, loving,  godly  parent,  understands  himself  to  be 
entrusted  with  the  care  and  nurture  and  training  of  a 
child,  by  the  God  to  whom  both  parent  and  child 
owe  their  being,  and  are  accountable,  any  opposition 
of  that  child's  will  to  the  will  of  his  parent  is  likely 
to  be  a  very  different  affair.  Such  a  parent  is  not 
engaged  in  a  selfish  struggle  with  a  fellow-being 
smaller  and  feebler  than  himself,  determined  to  have 
and  hold  the  advantage  which  superior  size  and 
strength  give  him.  There  is  nothing  of  his  own 
pleasure  which  such  a  father  would  not  willingly 
forego  ;  there  is  nothing  of  her  own  comfort  or  en- 
joyment which  such  a  mother  would  not  gladly  give 
up,  for  the  real  welfare  of  their  child.  But  to  give 
up  their  control  of  the  child,  they  know,  would  be 
hurtful  to  the  child,  dangerous,  not  improbably  ruin- 
ous. Wise  love  forbids  their  doing  or  risking  such 
fearful  harm  to  the  child.  Furthermore,  they  know 
themselves  to  be  invested,  by  God,  with  a  sacred 
authority  over  the  child,  to  which,  by  them,  He  has 
given  immortal  being.  This  authority  is  a  sacred 
trust  from  Him,  which  fidelity  to  Him  requires  them 
to  keep  ;  forbids  them  to  surrender.  When  such 
parents  find  their  child  disobedient  to  them,  they 
know  that  he  is  at  the  same  time",  and  in  that  very 
thing,  disobedient  to  God  also  ;  and  it  is  obedience  to 
God  which  they  are  commissioned  to  require  —  sub- 


132  Sin  and  Salvation. 

jection  to  the  authority  of  God  reaching  the  child 
through  them.  There  is,  there  can  be,  no  more 
solemn  issue  made  up  between  any  two  beings  than 
this — "Will  you,  a  child,  in  the  home  of  your  par- 
ents, obediently  submit  to  those  parents  in  their 
exercise  of  the  authority  which  God  has  given  them?" 
They  dare  not  yield  to  you,  because  that  would  be 
disobedience  to  God  ;  your  yielding  to  them  is  obe- 
dience to  God.  When  a  child  sees  this,  and  does 
thus  honestly  and  truly  yield  his  will  to  the  authority 
of  his  parents,  because  he  sees  that  their  authority  is 
God's  authority,  and  in  submitting  to  them  he  sub- 
mits to  God — that  may  be  the  child's  conversion,  as 
genuine  and  as  thorough  as  that  of  the  strong,  proud, 
self-willed  man,  in  the  Buffalo  grove,  with  no  human 
authority  between  him  and  God,  but  facing  God 
alone,  and  consciously  giving  up  his  opposition,  pour- 
ing all  his  submissive  soul  out  in  the  loud  cry,  "  Thy 
will  be  do?iey 

Christian  parents,  in  the  thoughtful,  faithful,  lov- 
ing, prayerful,  firm  exercise  of  parental  authority,  are 
not  merely  educating  their  child  for  this  world,  but 
are  administering  to  that  child  the  best  adapted 
means  of  grace.  In  bringing  your  child  to  willing 
submission  to  you,  you  may,  at  the  same  time  and 
on  the  same  issue,  be  bringing  him  into  willing  sub- 
mission to  God.  Remember  that  by  no  power  of 
your  own  can  you  accomplish  this.     In  praying  God 


Early  Beginning  of  Salvation.         131 

to  bring  your  child,  by  the  power  of  His  Spirit,  into 
that  subjection  to  you,  which  He  has  ordained,  you 
are  indeed  asking  Him  to  convert  that  child,  to  make 
it  His  child.  If  your  child  is  disobedient  and  unsub- 
missive to  you,  the  worst  of  it  is,  that  this  proves 
the  child  to  be  disobedient  and  unsubmissive  to  God. 
Your  prayer  ought  to  be,  that  God  will  grant  His 
converting  grace  to  the  child,  and  that  the  child's 
true  conversion  to  God  may  be  evidenced  by  kin 
filial  submission  to  you.  Praying  thus,  watching 
thereunto  with  believing  expectation,  and  thought- 
fully, watchfully,  patiently  using  all  scriptural  means 
to  that  end,  ought  not  you  to  accept  the  'child's  real 
and  evident  submission  to  your  authority,  as  a  good 
evidence  of  his  real  conversion  to  God  ?  I  do  not 
say  that  this  is  the  only  evidence,  nor  that  this  alone 
is  sufficient  evidence ;  but  I  can  not  help  regarding  it 
as  a  good  evidence,  as  even  among  the  best  of  evi- 
dences, and  without  this  I  know  of  no  other  that  is 
satisfactory. 

Does  some  thoughtful  parent  ask :  "  How  young 
may  my  child  have  this  experience  ?  Must  there  be  a 
definite  and  a  decisive  conflict  between  me  and  my 
child,  a  struggle  more  or  less  vehement,  and  more  or 
less  protracted,  of  the  child's  will  against  my  parental 
authority,  ended  by  the  child's  submission  ?  And  must 
this  be  after  the  child  is  old  enough  to  be  taught,  and 
to  know  that  I  am  ruling  him  for  and  under  God,  and 


j  34  Sin  and  Salvation. 

that  his  submission  or  resistance  to  me  is  submission 
or  resistance  to  God  ?  "  I  can  not  think  so.  I  think 
that  there  are  facts  within  the  observation  of  parents, 
which  show  that  this  whole  question  of  a  child's  duti- 
ful subjection  to  its  parents  may  be  settled  in  the  cra- 
dle, or  in  the  arms  of  the  parent,  during  that  early- 
period  of  which  there  is  no  remembrance  in  later  life, 
so  that  the  person  will  have  no  recollection  of  ever 
having  been  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  his  parents. 

Not  long  ago  I  was  conversing  with  a  thoughtful 
and  prayerful  man,  concerning  his  own  child,  now  a 
mature  woman,  a  decided  and  devoted  Christian,  the 
wife  of  a  Christian  minister.  He  told  me,  with  deep 
feeling,  of  his  daughter's  infancy,  and  of  the  solicitude 
with  which  he  and  his  wife  sought  to  fulfill  their  re- 
sponsibility to  God  concerning  the  child  He  had  given 
them.  I  am  not  able  to  give  his  words,  but  what 
he  said  was  substantially  this  :  u  We  had  had  the  gen- 
eral and  rather  vague  impression  that  real  governing 
of  our  child  must  begin  after  she  should  be  old 
enough  to  know  something  of  what  it  should  mean, 
when  we  should  be  able  to  make  requirements  of  her 
which  she  could  know  as  such,  and  could  understand 
that  she  ought  to  submit  to  us  and  obey  us.  But  she 
did  not  wait  for  that  time  before  she  began  to  show 
resistance  to  us.  She  would  stiffen  her  little  body 
and  all  its  members,  as  she  lay  in  our  arms,  or  would 
violently  struggle  against  that  to  which  we  thought 


Early  Beginning  of  Salvation.        135 

best  to  hold  her,  screaming  forth  her  infantile  wrath 
in  inarticulate  cries,  while  yet  she  could  speak  no 
words,  nor  understand  any  words  in  which  we  could 
reason  with  her."  What  was  to  be  done  ?  Even  the 
physical  well-being  of  the  child,  the  entire  condition 
of  her  nervous  system,  was  imperiled.  More  alarming 
still  was  the  prospect  of  the  child  coming  to  that  de- 
gree of  intelligence  for  which  the  panfnts  had  pro- 
posed to  wait,  with  the  habit  already  formed  of  putting 
the  whole  of  her  energy  into  the  effort  to  resist  the 
will  of  the  only  beings  with  whom  she  had  had  to  do, 
and  the  habit  of  succeeding  in  that  resistance.  They 
were  too  wise  to  consent  to  this.  The  God  whom 
they  trusted,  did  not  fail  to  make  them  see  that  then 
the  rightful  supremacy  of  the  parental  will  must  be 
gently,  lovingly,  but  firmly  asserted.  It  cost  the  child 
some  bodily  pain,  and  doubtless  cost  it  a  sharper  pain 
of  soul  ;  it  cost  the  parental  hearts  keen  anguish  ;  but 
the  infantile  will  yielded ;  the  baby  head  bowed  and 
drooped  in  submission ;  the  whole  muscular  system 
relaxed  into  pliant  surrender;  the  child  woke  from 
the  ensuing  sleep  with  loving  smiles,  ready  for  joyous 
compliance  with  every  parental  wish  ;  and  never  again 
did  she  offer  resistance  to  the  will  of  her  parents.  She 
grew  up,  not  only  affectionate,  amiable,  obedient,  to- 
ward her  parents,  but  also  prayerful  and  devout  to- 
ward God.  I  suppose  that  neither  she  nor  her  parents 
would  undertake  to  decide  when  she  became  a  child 


136  Sin  and  Salvation. 

of  God,  and  her  personal  salvation  began.  As  little 
do  I  attempt  to  decide.  But  at  no  point  does  it  seem 
to  me  more  probable  than  at  that  at  which  she  yield- 
ed to  her  parents.  Her  conscious  recognition  of  God's 
authority  and  submission  to  it  came  long  afterward. 
But  who  shall  say,  that  it  did  not  then  come  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course  from  the  state  of  her  will  into  which 
God  brought  her,  when  He  heard  the  prayer  of  her  par- 
ents— sweet,  willing,  affectionate  subjection  to  them  ? 
And  have  not  other  parents  called  upon  God  and 
obtained  His  saving  help  for  their  infants  earlier  still? 
Are  there  not  some,  whose  parents  first  took  them  to 
their  arms  with  believing  prayerful  expectation  that, 
from  the  very  first,  God  would  help  them  to  control 
them  so  firmly  and  so  steadily  and  withal  so  gently  as 
even  to  forestall  and  prevent  all  uprising  of  will  in  op- 
position ?  Are  there  not  parents  who  remember  no 
instance  of  struggling  with  an  infantile  will  in  re- 
bellion, and  whose  children  remember  no  time  when 
subjection  to  the  will  of  parents  was  not  to  them  a 
thing  of  course,  and  a  real  comfort  and  rest  ?  Are 
there  not  some  such  to  whom  the  will  of  God,  as  soon 
as  it  comes  to  be  known,  seems  but  to  encompass  the 
will  of  their  parents,  and  ready  submission  to  it  to  be 
but  the  natural  fulfillment  of  what  they  have  always 
felt  ?  I  am  confident  that  this  is  so ;  I  know  of  nothing 
in  the  Bible  to  forbid  this  belief,  and  there  are  credible 
witnesses  of    such  experience,  extending  back  to  a 


Early  Beginning  of  Salvation.        137 

time  beyond  which  their  memory  runneth  not  to  the 
contrary.  There  are  Christians,  of  approved  piety 
and  devout  lives,  who  have  no  remembrance  of  any 
even  momentary  struggle  against  the  will  of  God, 
however  that  will  may  have  been  revealed  to  them ' 
There  are  many  such. 

We  saw  that,  in  adult  life,  the  transition  from  im- 
penitence to  piety  is  not  always  characterized  by  any 
conscious  struggle  of  opposition  to  God,  ending  in 
peaceful  submission  to  Him  ;  that  sometimes  there  is 
a  sense  of  guilt  and  exposure,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
jailer,  relieved  by  learning  Christ's  power  and  willing- 
ness to  save,  and  by  immediate  acceptance  of  the  sal- 
vation offered ;  and  sometimes,  in  utmost  tranquillity 
of  thoughtful  attention,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Eunuch 
and  of  Lydia,  the  heart  is  opened  to  receive  the  word, 
and  does  cordially  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  go  on 
rejoicing  in  the  way  of  dutiful  obedience  to  Him. 
We  saw  that  in  all  this  variety  of  other  exercises,  and 
features  of  experience,  the  one  constant. and  essential 
thing  is  the  hearty  acceptance  of  Christ  as  He  is  of- 
fered in  the  Gospel. 

How  early  can  this  be  experienced  ?  How  young  a 
child  can  really  trust  in  Jesus?  Who  will  set  a  limit 
of  age,  before  which  he  will  dare  to  say  that  a  little 
child  can  not  come  to  Jesus  ?  A  very  little  child  can 
know  that  he  is  naughty,  and  can  feel  unhappy  on 
that  account ;    can   know  that   his  naughtiness   dis* 


138  Sin  and  Salvation. 

pleases  God  as  truly  as  it  displeases  his  father,  and 
grieves  Jesus  as  much  as  it  grieves  his  mother.  A 
very  little  child  can  know  and  believe  that  Jesus  died 
on  account  of  his  and  others'  naughtiness,  and  that 
Jesus  is  able  and  willing  to  make  a  naughty  little 
child  good  and  happy.  So  believing,  such  a  child 
may  trust  Jesus  as  really  as  he  trusts  the  mother  on 
whose  breast  he  lays  his  head  in  the  dark  chamber. 
I  have  said  that  a  very  young  child  may  do  this. 
I  undertake  not  to  say  how  young ;  but  my  strong 
belief  is  that  it  may  be  so  young  that  no  memory  of 
this  will  be  retained  in  the  future  years. 

Two  notable  instances  of  early  piety  are  recorded 
in  the  Bible — Samuel  and  Timothy.  Paul  says,  in  a 
letter  to  Timothy  himself,  "  From  a  child  thou  hast 
known  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make 
thee  wise  unto  salvation."  He  also  expresses  his 
confidence  that  the  same  faith  dwelt  in  Timothy 
which  dwelt  first  in  his  grandmother  and  mother. 
Doubtless  this  might  all  be  said  truly  of  one  who  be- 
came a  Christian  in  later  childhood  or  in  youth,  who 
would  distinctly  remember  the  time  when  he  became 
a  Christian,  but  not  a  time  when  his  mother  had  not 
already  taught  him  much  of  the  Scriptures.  But  at 
least  Paul  makes  no  mention  of  such  an  experience, 
and  would  not  need  to  speak  differently  if  Timothy 
was  a  child  of  God  from  a  time  to  which  his  own 
memory  did  not  extend. 


Early  Beginning  of  Salvation.        139 

The  story  of  young  Samuel  gives  a  similar  impres- 
sion of  him.  It  is  not  necessary  to  believe  that  Han- 
nah had  any  sorrowful  remembrance  of  him  as  a 
disobedient  child  to  her,  or  that  Samuel  remembered 
a  time  when  he  was  not  ready  to  say,  "  Speak,  Lord, 
for  thy  servant  heareth,"  so  soon  as  ever  he  should 
know  that  the  Lord  spoke  to  him. 

Every  parent  of  children,  however  young,  should 
be  encouraged  to  seek  the  present  salvation  of  those 
children  —  to  ask  of  God  that  the  saving  work  of 
His  grace  may  begin  now  in  their  souls,  and  to  ex- 
pect it. 

We  should  also  encourage  all  children  to  come  to 
Jesus.  None  are  too  young.  If  any  child  feels  him- 
self to  be  a  sinner ;  if  any  one  feels  afraid  of  God's 
displeasure  and  of  the  wrath  to  come,  there  is  no 
need  of  staying  in  that  unhappiness.  The  Lord  Jesus 
calls  each  little  child  to  Him  now.  He  is  just  as 
ready  to  begin  His  work  of  salvation  in  the  soul  of 
the  youngest  child  as  of  the  wisest  man.  Yes,  some- 
times these  things  are  hidden  from  the  wise  and  pru- 
dent, and  are  revealed  to  babes. 


CHAPTER   V. 
SALVATION   AS   HEALING. 

IN  our  study  of  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  salvation 
over  against  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  sin,  we 
have  thus  far  attended  only  to  the  beginning  of  sal- 
vation. We  have  seen  that  there  is  an  act  of  salva- 
tion, an  act  of  God's  free  grace,  wherein  He  at  once 
and  sovereignly  releases  the  sinner  from  the  condem- 
nation which  his  sin  has  incurred  ;  exempts  him  from 
all  liability  to  punishment ;  rescues  him  from  his  ex- 
posure to  the  wrath  to  come.  We  have  seen  that 
there  is  a  corresponding  act  of  the  sinner,  without 
which  that  gracious  act  of  God  does  not  take  place. 
This  is  the  sinner's  sincere  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  He  is  offered  in  the  Gospel.  This  voluntary  act 
of  acceptance  of  Christ  we  saw  to  be  the  proper  con- 
summation of  honest  and  hearty  belief,  constitut- 
ing what  has  been  expressively  called  "the  faith 
of  a  transaction."  One  who  has  thus  heartily  en- 
trusted himself  to  the  Lord  Jesus  has  scriptural  war- 
rant for  believing  that  God  has  done  for  him  that 
distinct,  decisive,  sovereign  act  of  free  grace.     There 

is  a  proper  and  scriptural  sense  in  which  such  a  par- 
(140) 


Salvation  as  Healing.  141 

doned,  justified  man  may  be  called  a  saved  man.  We 
have  seen  that  this  beginning  act  of  salvation,  on  the 
human  side,  in  the  human  experience,  is  attended 
with  a  considerable  variety  of  mental  exercises,  giving 
us  occasion  to  consider  several  different  types  of  con- 
version, or  different  styles  of  experience  accompany- 
ing the  soul's  transition .  from  impenitence  to  piety, 
or  becoming  a  Christian.  We  have  also  seen  that 
this  experience  may  occur  very  early  ;  that  the 
Scriptures  give  us  no  right  to  say  that  any  living 
human  being  is  too  young  to  enjoy  it.  Little  chil- 
dren may  be  saved.  Infants  may  be  saved.  "  Babes 
and  sucklings"  may  be  saved.  Theirs  is  a  real  salva- 
tion as  much  as  was  Saul's  or  the  jailer's,  as  much  as 
is  that  of  any  mature  sinner  now  whose  sturdy  will 
surrenders  to  God,  whose  proud  heart  giving  up  its 
vain  endeavor  "  to  establish  its  own  righteousness," 
"  submits  itself  unto  the  righteousness  of  God."  The 
infant's  salvation  is  not  only  as  real  as  that  of  the 
adult,  it  is  the  same  salvation,  involving  the  same 
essential  elements,  however  it  may  differ  in  many 
attending  phenomena. 

But  all  this  pertains  to  that  beginning  act,  which  is 
indeed  scripturally  called  salvation,  but  which  strictly 
is  but  the  beginning  of  salvation.  It  is  a  decisive  be- 
ginning, and  to  it  a  continuing  and  a  consummation 
are  strongly  assured.  Yet  it  is  only  a  beginning.  A 
man  who  has  thus  decisively  begun  his  work  and  ex- 


142  Sin  and  Salvation. 

perience  of  salvation,  may  properly  be  called  a  saved 
man,  just  as  one  taken  from  the  water,  breathless  and 
pulseless,  is  declared  to  be  saved,  when  by  the  vigor- 
ous application  of  appropriate  means,  his  pulse  and 
breath  begin  again.  He  is  properly  said  to  be  saved, 
just  as  the  physician  properly  declares  that  his  patient 
is  saved  when  his  professional  scrutiny  discovers  that 
the  fever  has  passed  its  crisis.  It  is  a  salvation  which 
is  real,  but  which  is  only  begun — decisively  begun, 
yet,  it  may  be,  feebly. 

It  is  also  to  be  remembered  that  the  beginning  act 
of  salvation  is,  in  its  judicial  aspect,  complete  and 
finished.  The  sovereign  act  of  God,  resetting  the 
sinner  from  condemnation,  is  complete  and  decisive 
at  once.  In  that  respect,  the  believing  sinner,  the 
sinner  accepting  Christ,  does  not  then  merely  begin 
to  be  saved  ;  he  is  saved.  His  justification  is  an  in 
stantaneous,  a  conclusive,  a  finished  act  of  God's  free 
grace. 

Nevertheless,  this  divine  act  of  the  sinner's  justifi- 
cation, concurring  with  the  sinner's  believing  act  of  ac- 
ceptance of  Christ,  is  the  beginning  of  a  process  which 
is  quite  as  properly  and  intelligibly  regarded  as  a  pro- 
cess of  salvation.  That  process  may  profitably  be 
studied  in  several  different  aspects.  I  propose  it  now 
in  this  aspect — Salvation  as  Healing. 

This  corresponds  with  one  of  the  aspects  in  which 
we  viewed  sin — Sin  as  Disease.     In  this  aspect  we 


Salvation  as  Healing.  143 

found  that  sin  is  frequently  and  forcibly  presented  in 
Scripture.  We  shall  find  the  same  to  be  true  of  this 
aspect  of  salvation. 

The  psalmist  fervently  prays,  "  Lord,  be  merciful 
unto  me  :  heal  my  soul ;  for  I  have  sinned  against 
thee." — Ps.  xli.  4.  God  promises  to  heal  the  back- 
sliding of  his  people. — Hos.  xiv.  4  ;  Jer.  iii.  22.  The 
prophet  prays,  "Heal  me,  O  Lord,  and  I  shall  be 
healed ;  save  me,  and  I  shall  be  saved." — JER.  xvii.  14. 
The  forgiveness  of  iniquities  and  the  healing  of  dis- 
eases are  frequently  associated  in  both  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  New. 

This  is  not  merely  that  bodily  disease  and  infirmity 
and  deformity  are  regarded  as  analogous  to  sinful 
conditions  of  the  soul,  nor  that  they  come  in  con- 
sequence of  sin.  But,  besides  those  facts,  it  is  seen 
that  the  soul  is  as  really  and  essentially  harmed  by 
sin  as  the  body  by  disease.  A  sinful  soul  is  a  dam- 
aged soul.  ,  It  is  not  merely  liable  to  be  hurt  here- 
after in  consequence  of  its  sin  and  as  a  punishment  for 
it.  It  is  hurt  already.  Its  faculties  are  disordered  by 
it,  impaired,  deteriorated.  They  are  thrown  out  of 
harmony,  out  of  order,  as  really  as  are  the  forces  in  a 
machine  by  some  loosening  of  its  screws  or  bands,  or 
some  misshaping  of  its  wheels  or  rods,  or  some  loss 
of  strength  or  elasticity  in  its  springs  ;  as  really  as  are 
the  vital  forces  in  our  bodies,  by  the  ulceration  of  any 
organ,  or  by  any  excess  or  deficiency,  or  irregularity 


144  StH  and  Salvation. 

in  the  action  of  any  organ,  as  when  the  brain  is  soft- 
ened, or  the;  bones  are  made  brittle,  or  some  muscu- 
lar tissue  is  changed  into  bone,  or  the  heart  beats  too 
swiftly  or  too  slowly,  too  strongly  or  too  feebly.  We 
have  not  rightly  understood  sin,  if  we  have  considered 
it  only  as  exposing  us  to  a  death  to  be  inflicted 
judicially,  in  fulfillment  of  a  sentence  pronounced 
against  us.  It  does  expose  us  to  this,  and  from 
this  we  are  at  once  and  completely  saved  by  God's 
gracious  act  of  justification  immediately  on  our 
acceptance  of  Christ.  But  there  is  a  death  already 
•  experienced,  from  which  also  we  need  to  be  saved, 
and  our  salvation  from  which  is  not  thus  instantly 
completed.  The  apostle  Paul  declares  that  "to.be 
carnally  minded  is  death  "  (Rom.  viii.  6),  and  writing 
to  the  Ephesians  (ii.  i),  he  speaks  of  them  as  having 
previously  been  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  and 
having  then  been  made  alive  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

Let  us  not  press  these  expressions  too  far,  nor 
enter  into  any  minute  questions  of  interpretation 
which  are  unnecessary  for  our  present  purpose.  These 
are  specimens  of  Paul's  writing,  the  ordinary  tone  of 
which  shows  that  Paul  regarded  all  sinful  souls,  not 
merely  as  liable  to  be  put  to  death  by  and  by,  like  a 
criminal  under  sentence  awaiting  his  execution,  but 
as  in  a  process  of  death  already,  like  a  man  subject 
to  a  disease  which  is  steadily  eating  its  way  to  the 
vital  center.     This  is  not  only  Paul's  view,  but  the 


Salvation  as  Healing.  145 

view  which  pervades  the  whole  Bible.  Call  this  evil 
condition  of  the  soul  death,  or  call  it  disease  ;  you 
probably  have  in  your  own  mind,  and  convey  to 
other  minds,  the  same  impression.  Disease  is  death 
in  process.  Death  is  disease  consummated.  To  be 
healed  is  to  be  delivered  from  death  ;  is  to  be  made 
truly  alive. 

Let  us  understand  then  that  the  Lord  Jesus,  when 
He  says,  "  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee,"  says  also, 
"  Arise  and  walk."  He  comes  to  us,  and  speaks  to 
us,  and  sits  down  and  talks  with  us,  not  merely  as  a 
messenger  sent  from  the  court  of  the  divine  King,  of- 
fering us  pardon  and  amnesty  for  offences,  and  put- 
ting into  our  hands  documents,  sealed  with  blood, 
which  we  may  by  and  by  present  at  the  judgment- 
seat,  to  secure  us  from  sentence  being  pronounced 
against  us  there ;  but  also  as  a  skillful  physician, 
gently  and  faithfully  inquiring  into  the  condition  of 
our  enfeebled,  distorted,  diseased  souls,  and  offering 
us  help,  and  relief,  and  healing.  He  asks  us  to  be- 
lieve in  Him,  in  this  character,  as  well  as  in  the  other. 
He  asks  us  to  trust  Him  for  healing  as  much  as  for 
forgiveness.  He  asks  us  not  only  to  take  the  sealed 
documents  of  pardon  from  His  hand  with  no  misgiv- 
ing doubt  of  their  validity,  but  also  to  let  Him  lay 
His  hands  on  us,  that  divine  virtue  may  come  forth 
from  Him,  to  make  us  whole  of  whatsoever  disease 
we  have ;  whatsoever  form  or  type  of  the  disease  of 
7 


146  Sin  and  Salvation. 

sin  ;  whether  its  blindness,  its  benumbing  paralysis,  of 
its  polluting  and  consuming  leprosy. 

In  more  literal,  though  I  can  scarcely  think  more 
intelligible  phrase,  we  are  to  trust  the  Lord  Jesus,  not 
only  to  save  us  from  the  punishment  which  should  be 
judicially  inflicted  for  sin,  but  to  deliver  us  from  the 
sin  itself  which  deserves  such  infliction.  This  de- 
liverance is  a  process,  not  an  instantaneous  act.  We 
are  saved  from  condemnation  instantly,  and  once  for 
all,  as  a  man's  life  is  saved  instantly  when  a  messenger 
comes  from  the  capital  with  the  pardon  signed  and 
sealed  by  the  governor,  just  when  the  sheriff  was  lead- 
ing him  out  from  the  cell,  to  set  him  under  the  gal- 
lows. 

Our  salvation  from  the  wrath  to  come,  our  rescue 
from  condemnation,  is  thus  sudden,  and  instantane- 
ous, and  complete.  But  not  so  is  our  soul's  healing, 
our  cure  from  sin.  Sin  in  us,  an  evil  possession,  de- 
ranging, impairing,  enfeebling,  perverting  the  whole 
structure  of  our  spiritual  being,  is  not  instantly  and 
once  for  all  cast  out.  Our  being  made  whole  is  not 
an  act,  but  a  process.  It  is  a  work  of  God's  free 
grace,  on  which  He  spends  time,  and  employs  means 
and  agencies,  especially  our  own  agency,  bidding  us 
"  work  out  our  own  salvation,"  cautioning  us  against 
heedlessness  and  presumptuous  confidence,  warning 
us  of  danger,  bidding  us  do  this  work  "  with  fear  and 
trembling,"  yet  withal  breathing  into  us  strength  and 


Salvation  as  Healing.  147 

courage  by  the  assurance  that  God  himself  "  worketh 
in  us  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure." 

The  analogy  between  the  ordinary  process  of  re- 
covery of  our  bodies  from  sickness,  and  the  recovery 
of  our  souls  from  the  disease  of  sin,  is  as  scriptural  as 
it  is  obvious.  In  saying  this,  we  do  not  overlook  the 
fact  that  Jesus  did  in  many  instances,  by  His  word  or 
touch,  suddenly  and  instantaneously  cure  inveterate 
diseases  of  long  standing — blindness  from  birth,  in- 
firmity which  had  been  borne  "  thirty  and  eight  years." 
We  do  not  forget  that  in  our  cure  from  sin,  we  de- 
pend upon  the  divine  power  of  this  same  mighty  one. 
We  do  not  deny  that  instant  and  complete  deliver- 
ance of  a  soul  from  all  indwelling  sin,  from  all  dispo- 
sition, tendency,  liability  to  sin,  is  possible,  in  some 
proper  and  scriptural  sense.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  Scriptures  give  us  no  examples  of  such  deliver- 
xnce  ;  they  give  us  many  examples  of  the  saving  proc- 
ess already  affirmed ;  and  the  general  tone  and  tenor 
of  Scripture  instructions  to  believers  in  Christ  [L  e.y 
to  pardoned  men  and  women),  evidently  contemplate 
such  a  process,  long  and  patiently  carried  forward, 
with  obedient  and  persevering  endeavor,  sustained  by 
continuous  and  persistent  trust  in  Christ's  gracious 
help,  or  in  the  helpful  indwelling  and  inworking  of  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  for  between  these  two  there  is  no  prac- 
tical or  discernible  distinction. — See  JOHN  xiv.  15-23. 

In  our  study  of  sin  as  disease,  we  considered  it  with 


148  Sin  and  Salvation. 

reference  to  (1)  our  natural  desires,  (2)  our  wills,  and 
(3)  our  consciejices. 

Let  us  inquire  now  how  the  Lord  Jesus  saves  us  in 
these  same  respects. 

1.  As  to  our  natural  desires.  When  our  eyes  are 
opened  to  see  ourselves  as  we  are,  we  find  that  our  nat- 
ural desires  have  somehow  fallen  into  an  unnatural  con- 
dition. What  man  or  woman  of  us  all  has  not  some 
desires  that  are  unnaturally  strong,  and  some  that  are 
unnaturally  weak  ?  Who  of  us  do  not,  in  the  vehe- 
mence of  desires  toward  that  in  which  we  ought  not 
to  indulge,  or  the  languor  of  desires  toward  that 
which  we  ought  to  pursue,  find  ourselves  convicted  of 
sin  ?  Who  of  us  do  not  right  here,  find  and  feel  sad 
evidence  that  sin  is  in  us  as  disease,  marring,  enfee- 
bling, corrupting  us  ?  Wherein  more  evidently  than 
in  this,  do  we  need  the  help  of  the  Great  Physician  ? 
No  more  signal  examples  of  this  can  be  found  than 
in  bodily  appetites.  We  sometimes  hear  men  tes- 
tify that,  in  simple  answer  to  prayer,  they  suddenly 
find  themselves  released  from  an  appetite  for  intoxi- 
cating drink,  whereby  they  had  long  been  enslaved. 
That  such  help  is  sometimes  given,  is  not  to  be 
doubted  consistently  with  the  respect  due  to  these 
honest  men's  testimony,  nor  with  proper  regard  for 
the  promises  of  Christ  recorded  in  Scripture.  How 
far  this  answer  to  prayer  involves  a  direct  and  super- 
natural operation  upon  these  men's  minds,  and  how 


Salvation  as  Healing.  149 

far  it  is  by  means  of  natural  physiological  and  mental 
forces,  it  is  not  necessary  now  to  decide,  nor  do  I 
think  that  we  can  yet  decide.  Neither  should  we  let 
our  minds  be  so  much  engaged  with  God's  answer  to 
this  prayer  in  this  way,  or  on  this  side  of  these  men's 
experience,  as  to  assume  that  there  is  no  answer  in 
any  other  way,  or  on  another  side  of  the  experience. 
Suddenly  increased  strength  of  purpose  to  resist  ap- 
petite might  be  as  great  a  blessing  and  as  kind  an  an- 
swer to  prayer,  as  the  sudden  taking  away  of  appetite  ; 
and  no  less  would  be  a  victory  over  appetite  slowly 
and  laboriously  gained  by  means  of  patient  effort, 
with  studious  use  of  physical  -and  mental  means,  and 
even  after  many  mortifying  failures  and  humiliations. 

It  behooves  any  one  who  is  thus  enslaved,  to  pray 
with  full  confidence  in  Christ's  power,  and  full .  sub- 
mission to  whatever  methods  he  may  choose  to  em- 
ploy. 

There  are  other  appetites  as  difficult  to  subdue,  and 
which,  uncontrolled,  work  as  fearful  ruin  and  degrada- 
tion. There  is  no  one  who  comes  to  Christ  for  par- 
don, and  receiving  it,  becomes  His  disciple,  who  does 
not  then  need  His  gracious  help,  to  deal  with  his  own 
perverse  desires,  to  restrain  them,  to  regulate  them — 
to  strengthen  perhaps  and  invigorate  some  of  them. 

2.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  Lord's  ability 
and  willingness  to  restore  and  invigorate  and  enthrone 
over  all  natural  desires,  that  sublime  power  of  will 


150  Sin  and  Salvation. 

which  belongs  to  our  human  nature,  and  which  is  so 
debased  and  enfeebled  or  perverted  by  sin.  There  are 
appropriate  means  to  be  studied  and  applied  for  the 
remedy  of  this  deep  disease,  and  the  rectifying  of  this 
perverseness.  But  there  is  no  good  hope  of  their  suc- 
cessful application,  unless  they  are  accompanied  with 
a  direct  divine  influence.  The  full  and  unreserved 
surrender  of  our  wills  to  God  will  not  impair  nor  de- 
bilitate them :  it  will  put  us  into  the  best  possible 
condition  to  receive  from  Him  the  salutary  influence 
needed,  to  restore  them  to  full  health  and  vigor,  and 
to  enthrone  them  in  their  proper  dominion  over  all 
our  desires  and  impulses. 

3.  No  less  do  we  need  Christ's  healing  of  our  con- 
sciences. That  sad  loss  of  sensibility,  which,  when 
carried  to  the  extreme,  the  Scripture  calls  having 
them  "  seared  as  with  a  hot  iron,"  in  greater  or  less 
degree  has  befallen  the  consciences  of  us  all.  When 
we  are  saved  from  condemnation  ;  when  we  are  shel- 
tered from  the  wrath  to  come  ;  when  we  are  at  peace 
with  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  then  surely 
we  are  in  a  far  better  situation  than  before  to  receive 
influences  favorable  to  the  health  of  our  consciences. 
It  is  right  to  pray  that  the  Lord  Jesus  will  help  us  in 
this  ;  that  He  will  deliver  us  from  callous  numbness 
of  conscience  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  morbid  sen- 
sitiveness on  the  other ;  and  from  stings  and  tortures 
and  worries  of  a  bewildered  and  darkened  conscience, 


Salvation  as  Healing,  151 

We  are  not  entitled  to  expect  His  answer  to  this 
prayer  without  our  faithful  use  of  the  means  of  grace. 
The  diligent  study  of  the  Bible  ;  faithful  attendance 
upon  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel ;  the  wholesome 
influence  of  Christian  companionship  and  association  ; 
constant,  thoughtful  endeavors  to  do  good — all  these 
are  proper  means  of  restoring  health  to  enfeebled  or 
disordered  consciences.  We  are  to  use  these  means, 
but  to  remember  always,  that  only  the  present  help 
of  God,  the  direct  influence  of  His  Spirit,  will  make 
them  effectual,  and  nothing  else  will  keep  us  to  the 
faithful  use  of  them. 

This  consideration  of  sin  as  disease,  and,  corre- 
spondingly, of  salvation  as  healing,  condemns  the 
harsh  judgment  which  many  pass  upon  faulty  Chris- 
tians. There  are  not  a  few  who  virtually  pronounce 
all  professors  of  religion  who  have  great  faults  hypo- 
crites ;  or  else  they  infer  that  the  religion  whose  pro- 
fessors may  have  great  faults  is  a  delusion.  No  doubt 
our  religion  is  to  cure  our  faults ;  it  is  to  heal  our  dis- 
eased, sin-sick  souls.  But  it  takes  time  to  do  it.  Our 
Physician  is  very  patient  with  us.  We  try  His  pa- 
tience sadly,  by  not  taking  His  medicines  better  nor 
practicing  the  means  of  improvement  which  He  pre- 
scribes for  us  more  faithfully,  and  by  indulging  our- 
selves in  many  things  which  JJe  has  told  us  are  not 
good  for  us.  Doubtless  we  often  dishonor  Him,  and 
harm  ourselves,  and  hinder  others  from  trusting  Him, 


152  Sin  and  Salvation. 

This  is  too  bad.  But,  after  all,  any  candid  person  may 
see  that  exactly  in  proportion  to  any  diseased  soul's 
real  trust  in  Jesus,  shown  by  faithful  compliance  with 
His  directions  and  faithful  use  of  His  appointed 
means,  that  soul's  spiritual  health  is  restored.  There 
is  no  room  to  doubt  this.  A  physician's  skill  is 
not  shown  directly  by  the  health  of  those  who  con- 
sult him ;  but  by  the  degree  of  improvement  which 
results  from  that  consultation.  This  may  have  been 
greater  in  one  who  is  yet  very  ill,  than  in  one  who  is 
now  fully  restored. 

This  view  encourages  those  who  are  conscious  of 
great  faults,  but  who  cleave  to  Christ  in  affection- 
ate trust.  He  came  "  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but 
sinners  to  repentance."  "  They  that  be  whole  need 
not  the  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick."  Some 
of  the  disciples  who  followed  Him  in  Galilee  and 
Judea  had  great  faults,  even  when  they  had  been  His 
disciples  a  long  time  ;  but  He  never  lost  patience 
with  them.  He  cast  off  only  the  one  who  was  utterly 
insincere.  Cling  to  Him  in  affectionate  trust,  how- 
ever faulty  you  may  be,  and  He  will  cling  to  you 
with  patient  love,  and  shed  upon  you  gracious  influ- 
ence, until  He  can  present  you  faultless  before  His 
Father. 

There  is  no  greater  mistake  than  trying  to  get  rid 
of  faults  before  coming  to  Christ,  or  delaying  to  come 
to  Him  until  we  shall  be  rid  of  them. 


Salvation  as  Healing,  153 

Just  as  I  am,  and  waiting  not 
To  rid  my  soul  of  one  dark  blot, 
To  Thee,  whose  blood  can  cleanse  each  spot — 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come. 

Just  as  I  am,  poor,  wretched,  blind, 
Sight,  riches,  healing  of  the  mind, — 
Yea,  all  I  need  in  Thee  to  find— 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come." 


7* 


CHAPTER   VI. 
SALVATION   A   RETURN   TO   GOD. 

IN  that  wonderful  word-picture  which  Luke  has 
given  us  from  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  Parable  of  the 
Prodigal  Son,  the  situation  and  condition  of  the  wan- 
derer "when  he  had  spent  all,"  is  powerfully  depicted. 
Whose  mind,  attending  to  that  parable,  does  not  see 
the  unhappy  youth  in  that  "far  country"  out  in  the 
field  alone,  among  the  swine  he  is  tending,  penniless, 
hungry,  friendless,  homesick  ?  Whose  heart  does  not 
feel  that  there  is  infinite  pathos  in  that  sight  ?  If 
we  were  standing  together  before  a  painting  of  that 
scene — any  dozen  of  us — and  if  each  of  us  was  asked 
to  point  out  the  feature  which  impressed  him  most 
strongly,  it  is  not  likely  that  we  should  all  point  to 
the  same  feature.  This  might  depend  upon  the  angle 
from  which  each  took  his  view,  or  upon  the  special 
susceptibility  of  each,  or  upon  some  recent  or  some 
long  past  experience  with  which  there  would  be  some 
vivid  association.  And  yet  it  might  be,  that  if  any 
one  in  such  a  group  should  mention  the  particular 
point  upon  which  his  eye  fastened,  or  the  thought  to 
which  the  picture  specially  called  his  mind,  all  might 
(i54) 


Salvation  a  Return  to   God.  155 

find  increased  pleasure  in  looking  together  upon  that 
point,  and  engaging  their  minds  together  upon  that 
thought  with  conscious  sympathy. 

Thinking  their  thoughts  aloud — such  a  group — one 
might  say,  "  How  hungry  he  looks  !  See  his  hollow 
cheeks  and  sunken  eyes."  Another  might  say,  "  What 
an  expression  of  shame  the  artist  has  put  into  his 
face  !  See  him  gaze,  with  such  disgust,  at  the  un- 
clean animals  he  is  obliged  to  feed,  Jew  that  he  is, 
taught  from  childhood  to  loathe  them  !  He  must  be 
bitterly  remembering  the  folly  which  has  brought  him 
to  such  degradation."  Some  one  else  says,  "  He  has 
only  himself  to  blame.  He  is  too  intelligent  not  to 
know  it.  He  is  taking  the  blame  to  himself.  That 
look  on  his  face  is,  to  my  eye,  the  look  of  remorse. 
It  says,  lI  have  smned.'"  And  I  can  easily  fancy 
some  affectionate,  motherly  woman  listening  silently 
to  all  these  remarks,  and  when  all  are  waiting  to  know 
what  she  thinks,  turning  away  from  the  picture,  and 
saying,  as  she  catches  their  inquiring  glance,  "  He's 
just  homesick." 

If  the  artist  himself  were  within  hearing,  perhaps 
he  would  say,  that  they  were  all  right ;  that  every  one 
of  the  features  named  belongs  to  the  picture,  and  every 
one  of  those  thoughts  enters  into  the  complex  con- 
ception. Yet  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  see  a  look 
of  the  greatest  satisfaction  spread  over  his  face,  at 
that    last  suggestion — "He  is  homesick."     Certainly 


156  Sin  and  Salvation. 

every  pang  of  the  hunger  that  has  so  pinched  that 
cheek  and  wasted  the  muscles  that  used  to  brace  that 
frame,  reminds  him  of  the  father's  house,  in  which 
even  the  servants  "have  bread  enough  and  to  spare." 
Every  remorseful  thought  of  the  riotous  scenes  in 
which  he  has  "  wasted  his  substance,"  recalls  the  ven- 
erable figure  and  grave  face  of  his  father,  as  he  took 
from  his  hand  the  money  which  should  be  his  por- 
tion of  the  inheritance.  Every  glance  at  the  coarse 
beasts  before  him,  champing  and  trampling  the  pods 
which  he  has  thrown  out  to  them,  must  remind  him 
of  the  field  in  which  his  elder  brother  is  working,  or 
overseeing  the  hired  laborers,  and  from  which  at 
eventide  he  will  walk  home,  past  fruitful  olive -or- 
chards, and  along  trellises  laden  with  purpling  clus- 
ters, soothed  from  his  weariness  by  the  gentle  lowing 
of  kine,  and  the  contented  bleating  of  clean  flocks, 
as  he  goes  to  his  wholesome  supper,  and  his  clean 
bed,  and  his  fathers  benediction. 

All  this  poverty,  all  this  hunger,  all  this  shame,  all 
this  guilty  degradation  and  wretchedness  have  re- 
sulted from  leaving  that  father,  coming  away  from 
that  home. 

As  these  thoughts  work  on  his  mind ;  as  this  sor- 
row "  worketh  repentance  "  ;  as  the  distress  of  mind 
at  length  produces  a  change  of  mind  ;*  see  the  form 


*  2  Cor.  vii.  10. 


Salvation  a  Return  to   God.  157 

which  his  resolution  naturally  and  fitly  takes.  "  1 
will  arise,  and  go  to  my  father."  As  all  the  misery 
and  guilt  have  come  by  departing  from  his  father,  the 
only  way  out  of  them  is  by  a  return  to  his  father. 

We  need  not  try  to  fancy  him  utterly  forgetful  of 
his  own  personal  needs  and  cravings,  and  thinking 
only  of  his  father.  We  need  not  doubt  that  he 
hopes  to  be  fed  by  his  father's  bounty,  even  if  he 
does  doubt  whether  he  can  ever  again  sit  at  his  fa- 
ther's table.  He  can  not  expect  to  remain  hungry  or 
in  rags,  either  in  or  near  his  father's  house.  We  can 
scarcely  doubt  that  he  hopes  for  the  comfort  and  rest 
of  forgiving  words  spoken  by  his  father's  voice.  But 
do  not  all  our  hearts  tell  us,  that  his  deepest  and 
strongest  feeling  is,  the  desire  to  be  with  his  father  ? 
His  heart  can  not  rest  until  neither  the  distance  of  a 
far  country,  nor  the  distance  of  unforgiven  undutiful- 
ness  any  longer  separates  them. 

This  state  of  sin  and  misery  in  which  we  are — all 
mankind — the  worst  of  it  is  its  separating  us  from 
God.  The  only  real  and  effectual  salvation  from  it  is 
a  return  to  God. 

This  hiding  and  shrinking  away  of  souls  from  "  the 
Father  of  spirits,"  like  Adam  and  Eve  hiding  them- 
selves among  the  trees  of  the  garden  (Gen.  iii.  8), 
this  insane  disposition  to  say  unto  God,  "  Depart 
from  us;    for  we  desire  not  the  knowledge  of   thy 


158  Sin  and  Salvation. 

ways,"  of  which  Job  spoke  (Job  xxi.  14);  this  separa* 
tion  from  God  and  hiding  His  face  from  us  which 
Isaiah  ascribes  to  sin  (Isa.  lix.  2) ;  this  being  "  with- 
out God  in  the  world/'  of  which  Paul  wrote  (Eph.  ii. 
12);  it  is  from  these  that  we  need  to  be  recovered. 
Sin  is  all  these.  Sinners  are,  comprehensively,  wan- 
derers from  God.  Return  to  Him  is  salvation.  Re- 
turning to  God,  we  are  saved.  Let  us  try  to  under- 
stand this  returning  to  God,  this  coming  home  to  our 
heavenly  Father,  from  whom  all  our  sin  is  a  foolish 
and  wicked  wandering. 

1.  By  what  way  can  we  come  to  Him  ?  The  Lord 
Jesus  answers  this  question,  in  words  which  His  be- 
loved John  reports  to  us :  "  No  man  cometh  unto  the 

Father  but  by  me I  am  the  way." — JOHN  xiv. 

6.  "  One  mediator  between  God  and  man,  the  man 
Christ  Jesus." — 1  TlM.  ii.  5.  "When  we  were  ene- 
mies, we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  his 
Son." — ROM.  v.  10.  "  And  all  things  are  of  God,  who 
hath  reconciled  us  to  himself  by  Jesus  Christ." — 2 
COR.  v.  18.  "Whom  God  hath  set  forth,  a  propitia- 
tion through  faith  in  his  blood,  to  declare  his  right- 
eousness for  the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past, 
through  the  forbearance  of  God ;  to  declare  at  this 
time  his  righteousness ;  that  he  might  be  just,  and 
the  justifier  of  him  who  believeth  in  Jesus." — Rom. 
iii.  25,  26.  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 


Salvation  a  Return  to   God.  159 

in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
— JOHN  iii.  16.  The  atoning  work  of  Christ,  His  suf- 
fering and  death  on  the  cross,  was  necessary,  in  order 
that  God  might  consent  to  let  us  come  back  to  Him. 
He  could  not  take  us  back ;  could  not  let  us  come 
home ;  could  not  restore  us  to  the  position  and  con- 
dition of  children,  happy  in  His  favor,  without  that 
atonement. 

Why  not  ?  Is  God  revengeful  ?  Doth  He  keep  His 
anger  forever  ?  Is  He  implacable  ?  Must  He,  like 
some  cruel  tyrant,  be  bought  off  from  wreaking  His 
vengeance  on  guilty  men  by  the  opportunity  to  wreak 
it  on  one  so  strong  to  endure  it,  so  exalted  in  nature 
and  position,  and  so  innocent  as  Jesus  ?  So  revolt- 
ingly  is  the  doctrine  of  atonement  represented  by 
some  who  reject  it.  So  understood,  I  do  not  wonder 
at  the  rejection  of  it.  If  any  honestly  so  understand 
it,  I  do  not  blame  them  for  rejecting  it.  To  be  recon- 
ciled to  such  a  God  would  not  seem  to  me  to  be  sal- 
vation. There  is  no  such  God  in  heaven.  There  is 
no  such  doctrine  in  the  Bible.  There  is  no  such  per- 
version of  the  Bible  doctrine  in  any  evangelical  creed, 
nor  in  any  evangelical  pulpit.  It  is  only  so  caricatured 
in  unevangelical  pulpits,  and  in  a  very  pretentious 
but  very  shallow  sort  of  literature.  All  who  read  the 
Bible  know  that  the^od  whom  it  reveals  "hath  no 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked."  He  swears  by 
Himself  that  He  hath  not,  since  He  can  swear  by  no 


160  Sin  and  Salvation, 

greater.  "As  I  live, saith  the  Lord  God"  (Ez.  xxxiii 
1 1).  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  Son  freely 
consenting  and  giving  Himself,  because  He  "so  loved 
the  world."  In  nothing  is  the  eternal  agreement  and 
union  of  the  Son  and  the  Father  more  evident  than 
in  this.  The  Father  gave  the  Son,  and  the  Son 
"  through  the  Eternal  Spirit  offered  Himself  without 
spot  to  God."*  The  whole  Godhead  in  His  entire 
personality  and  being,  in  harmony  of  all  His  infinite 
perfections,  in  the  exercise  of  all  His  wisdom  and 
power  and  grace,  labored  to  save  guilty  man.  He 
was  ready  to  sacrifice  everything  but  His  own  charac- 
ter for  our  sake.  The  only  difficulty  was  how  to  be 
just  and  justify  us  ;  how  to  have  it  right  to  pardon 
us ;  how  to  let  us  come  back  home  into  His  favor 
without  His  ceasing  to  be  the  just,  the  holy,  the  good 
God,  whose  favor  is  life  to  holy  creatures.  Will  you 
call  it  stern  or  harsh  or  revengeful  that  He  would  not 
try  to  save  us  on  any  other  terms  than  such  as  would 
thus  secure  His  own  character?  What  if  He  were  ca- 
pable of  consenting  to  the  sacrifice  of  His  own  char- 
acter to  save  us — could  He  save  us  thus  ?  Would  it 
be  salvation  to  be  received  into  the  favor  of  a  God, 
who  in  the  very  act  of  so  receiving  us,  would  cease  to 
be  worthy  of  our  reverence  or  our  trust  ?  Shall  the 
prodigal  wish  to  come  home,  ^nd  be  received  by  his 


*  Heb.  ix.  14. 


Salvation  a  Return  to   God.  161 

father  on  terms  which  will  degrade  the  father  to 
baseness  like  that  from  which  he  himself  needs  to  be 
reclaimed,  and  make  that  home  fit  only  for  a  sty  for 
the  unclean  beasts  he  has  been  tending  ? 

There  are  no  words  lawful  to  be  written,  there  are 
no  figures  fit  to  be  presented  which  can  at  all  ade- 
quately represent  the  unreasonableness  of  the  demand 
that  God  should  clear  the  guilty  from  deserved  con- 
demnation, without  an  adequate  substitute  for  the 
penalty  of  His  law,  without  a  satisfaction  to  His  own 
eternal  justice. 

While  His  Word  has  preserved  to  us  the  full  assur- 
ance of  His  holiness  and  His  love,  it  has  made  it 
equally  plain  that,  in  His  estimation,  the  sacrifice  of 
His  Son  freely  offering  Himself  does  remove  all  that 
difficulty  ;  does  make  it  right  for  Him  to  offer  us 
pardon  ;  does  enable  Him  to  justify  all  who  believe 
in  Jesus,  and  still  be  just;  does  enable  Him  to  receive 
home  all  guilty  wanderers  who  will  come  back  in  this 
way,  and  take  us  into  His  favor  equally  with  the  un- 
fallen  seraphs,  without  ceasing  to  be  worthy  of  their 
song,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  of  hosts." 

This,  then,  is  the  way  in  which  we  can  return  to 
God — can  go  home  to  our  Father's  house.  Christ  is 
the  way. 

2.  How  are  we  to  go  in  this  way  ?  The  answer  to 
this  question  is  "  the  old,  old  story."  It  is  the  old, 
apostolic  answer  to  the  old  anxious  question,  "  What 


1 62  Sin  and  Salvation, 

must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  "Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  Trust  the  Lord  Jesus ;  trust  your 
soul  to  Him,  your  all,  your  eternity.  Close  your  long 
thinking  about  Him  by  thankfully  accepting  Him. 
Bring  your  long  consultation  with  Him  to  its  fitting 
conclusion  by  distinctly  committing  yourself  to  Him. 
Consummate  the  belief  of  your  understanding  by  issu- 
ing it  into  "  the  faith  of  a  transaction." 

"  Having,  therefore,  brethren,  boldness  to  enter 
into  the  holiest  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  by  a  new 
and  living  way  which  he  hath  consecrated  for  us 
through  the  vail,  that  is  to  say,  his  flesh  ;  and  hav- 
ing a  high-priest  over  the  house  of  God  ;  let  us  draw 
near,  with  a  true  heart,  in  full  assurance  of  faith,  hav- 
ing our  heart  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience,  and 
our  bodies  washed  with  pure  water." — Heb.  x.  19-22. 

Thus,  through  this  "  new  and  living  way,"  sim- 
ply by  trusting  ourselves  to  the  Lord  Jesus  for  His 
expiation  of  our  guilt  and  reconciling  to  us  God, 
do  we  come  back  to  God  from  our  wretched  and 
guilty  wandering. 

"  There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them 
who  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh, 
but  after  the  Spirit." — ROM.  viii.  1.  "Now  therefore 
ye  are  no  more  strangers  and  foreigners,  but  fellow- 
citizens  with  the  saints,  and  of  the  household  of  God." 
— Eph.  ii.  19.  You  have  come  home  ;  and  are  met 
with    a    father's    affectionate    and    hearty   welcome 


Salvation  a  Return  to   God.  163 

Here  y<3u  are.  The  swine,  and  the  husks,  and  the 
dismal  field  are  far  away  ;  as  far  the  wine,  and  the 
dance,  and  the  guilty  revelry  wherewith  you  were 
impoverished  and  degraded.  You  are  at  the  home 
door ;  and  the  Father's  arms  are  about  you  ;  and 
you  hear  Him  order  the  fatted  calf  killed ;  and 
harps,  and  viols,  and  glad  voices  are  filling  all  the 
house  with  music. 

3.  Are  you  then  saved?  Is  your  salvation  finished? 
Yes  and  No.  You  are  saved  from  condemnation. 
You  are  recovered  from  that  sad  and  guilty  estrange- 
ment. You  are  no  more  a  willful  wanderer  from  your 
Father's  house.  You  are  restored.  You  are  recon- 
ciled. You  are  generously  welcomed.  You  are  a 
child  of  God,  having  received  Christ,  and  believed 
on  His  name.*  "  He  that  believeth  on  Him  is  not 
condemned." — JOHN  iii.  18.  You  are  now  a  child  of 
God,  acknowledged  and  loved  as  such.  But  you  are 
a  faulty  child.  You  are  saved  from  condemnation ; 
but  you  have  only  begun  to  be  saved  from  sin.  You 
are  rescued  from  exposure  to  the  wrath  to  come ;  but 
you  are  not  cured  of  the  disease  of  sin.  You  are  con- 
valescent ;  but  you  are  not  yet  well.  You  have  come 
home  from  the  far  country.  You  are  within  the  Father's 
house.  But  are  you  yet  as  near  the  good  Father  as 
you  wish  to  be  ?     Is  there  not  yet  much  which  you 


John  i.  12. 


164  Sin  and  Salvation. 

feel  to  be  separating  between  you  and  Him,  prevent- 
ing that  near  access  which  you  long  for,  and,  if  not 
hiding  His  face  from  you,  at  least  obscuring  your 
view  of  it  ?  Verily  your  salvation  is  a  prosperously 
begun  work.  It  is  a  process  which  is  to  be  carried 
forward.  I  have  a  friend  of  fourscore  and  twelve 
years ;  I  have  talked  with  him  often  and  have  always 
found  him  making  a  modest  estimate  of  his  own  life 
and  attainments  as  a  Christian,  and  avowing  a  sim- 
ple trust  in  our  Redeemer.  He  now  knows  that  the 
time  can  not  be  far  distant  when  (if  ever)  he  shall  be 
"  with  the  Lord."  What  now  is  his  ground  of  hope 
that  he  shall  be  ready  for  that  ?  He  makes  no  men- 
tion of  his  services  or  attainments.  He  says  with 
exceeding  simplicity  that  he  feels  assured  of  God's 
ability  to  finish  what  He  has  begun.  It  is  still  a  life 
of  trust — as  truly  so  now,  so  near  its  end,  as  in  all  its 
earlier  stages.  Even  so  saith  the  Scripture.  "  For 
we  are  made  partakers  of  Christ  if  we  hold  the  begin- 
ning of  our  confidence  steadfast  unto  the  end." — 
HEB.  iii.  14. 

"  The  beginning  of  our  confidence."  There  must  be 
the  same  reliance  upon  Christ  all  the  way  that  there  was 
at  the  beginning.  There  must  be  constant  adherence  to 
Him,  with  the  same  compliant  and  obedient  trust, 
with  which  we-  first  committed  ourselves  to  Him.  In 
Him  only,  by  His  grace  strengthening  us,  can  we  suc- 
cessfully subdue  our  desires,  and  bring  every  part  of 


Salvation  a  Return  to   God.  165 

ourselves  into  obedient  subjection  to  the  will  of  God. 
By  Him  only  can  our  sin-diseased  natures  be  restored 
to  spiritual  health.  In  whatever  aspect  we  view  it, 
and  by  whatever  types  we  represent  it,  in  Christ  is  all 
our  salvation  and  all  our  hope. 

We  are  viewing  it  now,  in  the  aspect  of  return  to 
God.  As  the  beginning  of  our  salvation  is  a  decisive 
turning  from  the  world,  and  coming  to  God,  by  Christ, 
the  living  way,  so  the  process  of  salvation  is  drawing 
nearer  to  God — ever  nearer  and  nearer,  into  closer  and 
closer  fellowship. 

Dependent  as  we  are  upon  Christ  for  this,  it  is  not 
the  same  kind  of  dependence  as  was  that  for  expia- 
tion of  our  guilt.  In  that  there  was  nothing  for  us 
to  do,  "Jesus  paid  it  all."  But  in  this,  while  "with- 
out Him  we  can  do  nothing,"  we  "can  do  all  things 
through  Christ  who  strengthened  "  us. 

We  are  to  "work  out  our  own  salvation,  with  fear 
and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  who  worketh  in  us  to  will 
and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure." — PHIL.  ii.  12,  13.  It 
is  a  work  in  which  all  our  thoughtfulness  and  all  our 
energy  are  to  be  engaged,  yet  always  with  the  humble 
recollection  that  only  Christ's  ever-present  help  can 
give  us  success. 

Much  effort  is  unsuccessful,  much  labor  lost  by 
failing  to  consider  our  work  of  sanctification  in  this 
aspect,  as  a  coming  nearer  to  God.  This  "  work  of 
God's  free  grace  "  within  us,  quickens,  and  stirs,  and 


1 66  Sin  and  Salvation. 

guides  all  the  powers  of  our  being  to  the  continual 
effort  after  nearer  access  to  Him,  closer  fellowship 
with  Him.  To  draw  nearer  unto  God ;  to  become 
like  Him  ;  to  become  free  from  whatever  would  sepa- 
rate between  us  and  Him ;  to  become  such  in  charac- 
ter and  spirit  that  we  shall  be*  in  sympathy  with  Him  ; 
shall  have  the  same  likes  and  dislikes  with  Him, 
hating  only  what  He  hates,  and  loving  all  that  He 
loves  ; — to  "  walk  with  God,"  as  two  can  only  walk  to- 
gether who  "  are  agreed  " — this  is  salvation. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
I 

SALVATION  A  RECOVERY  FROM  DELUSION. 


IN  our  study  of  sin,  we  found  it  important  to  con* 
sider  the  illusions  which  belong  to  it,  the  delu- 
siveness wherewith,  at  the  beginning  in  Eden,  and  all 
the  way  down  the  successive  ages  and  generations,  its 
victims  have  been  beguiled.  We  saw  that  sin  is  delu- 
sive, and  sinners  are  deluded,  especially  in  two  ways, 
(i)  as  to  the  results  of  sin,  (2)  as  to  its  character. 
Men  sin  under  the  expectation  of  pleasant  results 
which  are  never  realized,  and  under  a  delusion  which 
blinds  them  to  its  exceeding  guiltiness. 

A  true  salvation  must  include  deliverance  from 
these  illusions.  Such  deliverance  is  made  very  prom- 
inent among  the  various  aspects  of  salvation  set  forth 
in  the  Bible. 

The  Psalmist  prayed,  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that 
I  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of  thy  law."  A 
fuller  and  clearer  revelation  was  not  what  he  so  much 
felt  the  need  of,  as  a  better  capacity  to  use  and  enjoy 
the  revelation  already  given.  Not  more  light,  but 
better  eyes,  opened  eyes,  eyes  cured  of  their  amauro- 
sis, their  insensibility  to  light,  or  whatever  morbid  ob- 

(167) 


1 68  Sin  and  Salvation, 

struction  there  might  be  to  the  entrance  of  light  into 
them.  Remove  the  cataract.  Quicken  the  torpid 
nerve.     Give  me  clear,  accurate,  healthy  eyesight. 

Isaiah,  in  his  glorious  vision  of  the  world's  popula- 
tion coming  to  God,  flocking  to  Mt.  Zion,  hears  them 
calling,  "  O  house  of  Jacob,  come  ye,  and  let  us  walk 
in  the  light  of  the  Lord."  From  the  darkness  of  pa- 
ganism, the  saved  nations  are  to  come  into  the  light 
that  shines  forth  "  out  of  Zion,  the  perfection  of 
beauty."  The  Psalmist  reverently  and  thankfully 
declares  to  Jehovah  his  own  expectation  to  see  light 
in  His  light,  that  light  whereof  the  fountain  is  with 
Him. — Ps.  xxxvi.  9. 

In  the  New  Testament  announcements  of  the  Son 
of  God  incarnate,  come  into  the  world  to  accomplish 
the  foretold  salvation,  we  read,  "  In  him  was  life ;  and 
the  life  was  the  light  of  men."  This  seems  to  inti- 
mate that  His  coming  among  men  is  not  so  much  to 
increase  the  outward  illumination  falling  upon  them 
as  the  inward  power  to  see  by  means  of  the  illumina- 
tion. The  life  is  the  light.  Again,  Jesus  himself  is  re- 
ported by  John  as  declaring  himself  "  the  light  of  the 
world,"  and  promising  that  those  who  follow  Him 
shall  have  "  the  light  of  life." 

The  Apostle  John,  in  his  first  Epistle  (i.  5-7), 
shows  his  own  mind  full  of  this  conception  of  salvation. 
It  is  ever,  with  Him,  walking  in  the  light,  and  being 
fully  delivered  from  darkness. 


Salvation  a  Recovery  from  Delusion.     169 

In  that  charming  parable,  in  which  the  Lord  so  ad- 
mirably illustrated  the  sinner's  coming  home  to  God, 
He  does  not  iail  to  recognize  the  prodigal's  escape 
from  the  delusion  which  had  impoverished  and  de- 
graded him,  as  the  very  first  stage  of  his  recovery. 
"  He  came  to  himself."  He  gave  rational  considera- 
tion to  his  forlorn  and  miserable  situation,  in  contrast 
with  what,  but  for  his  own  madness,  he  might  be  en- 
joying in  his  father's  house.  This  rational  considera- 
tion soon  led  to  the  rational  resolve — "  I  will  arise  and 
go  to  my  father." 

The  phrase  "  came  to  himself  "  is  an  expressive  one. 
It  is  literally  rendered  from  the  Greek,  as  written  by 
Luke.  The  figure  has  such  a  natural  significance  as 
needs  little  exposition.  To  be  beside  one's  self,  to  be 
out  of  one's  mind,  or  out  of  one's  head,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  be  restored  to  one's  mind,  or  to  come 
to  himself,  are  expressions  which  everybody  under- 
stands. But  does  everybody  understand  and  consider 
that  for  a  sinner  to  become  a  Christian  is,  first  of  all, 
to  become  rational,  to  come  to  himself? 

"Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  JE- 
HOVAH."— ISA.  i.  18. 

"  I  thought  on  my  ways,  and  turned  my  feet  unto 
thy  testimonies,"  said  the  Psalmist. — Ps.  cxix.  59. 

What  say  you  to  this  proposition:  "A  reasonable 
view  of  ourselves  and  of  Christ,  simply  a?id  reasonably 
acted  upon,  is  Salvation  ?  Does  any  one-  dispute 
3 


170  Sin  and  Salvation. 

this   proposition?      Does   any   one   doubt    or   ques. 
tion  it  ? 

Let  us  look  into  it  more  particularly.  Let  us  take 
it  apart,  and  look  carefully  at  its  several  members. 

A  reasonable  view  of  ourselves — how  shall  we  get 
it?  Being  sinners,  we  have  already  seen  that  it  is 
natural  for  us  to  take  an  unreasonable  view  of  our- 
selves, a  partial  and  prejudiced  view,  prejudiced  in 
our  own  favor,  a  view  of  ourselves  more  flattering 
than  the  truth  would  justify.  We  shall  all  agree  that 
God,  our  maker  and  judge,  sees  us  as  we  are ;  knows 
us  perfectly;  judges  us  infallibly.  The  view  which 
He  takes  of  us  must  be  a  reasonable  view,  a  view  to 
which  no  just  objection  can  be  made.  Do  not  we  all 
assent  to  this?  Do  not  we  all  feel  this?  If  God 
would  now  speak  to  us  from  the  heaven,  if  He  would 
"  call  the  earth  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  unto  the 
going  down  thereof,"  announcing  Himself  as  about  to 
declare  His  divine  judgment  of  us,  His  infallible  view 
of  our  state  and  character,  would  not  we  all  listen, 
ready  to  accept  that  solemn  and  authoritative  decla- 
ration? But  could  God  utter  His  judgment  of  us 
more  clearly  than  He  has  long  ago  caused  it  to  be 
written  in  His  Word  ? 

"  The  Lord  looked  down  from  heaven,  upon  the 
children  of  men,  to  see  if  there  were  any  that  did  un- 
derstand and  seek  God.  They  are  all  gone  aside, 
they  are  together  become   filthy ;    none  that   doeth 


Salvation  a  Recovery  front  Delusion.     171 

good,  no,  not  one." — Ps.  xiv.  2,  3.  Is  there  one  of 
us  who  will  take  issue  with  God,  frankly  and  squarely, 
and  refuse  to  be  thus  estimated?  Is  there  one  of  us 
who  will  deny  that  God's  view,  so  clearly  stated  in 
His  Word,  is  the  reasonable  view  of  us,  the  view 
which,  whenever  we  come  to  ourselves,  we  must  take 
of  ourselves?  Do  not  we  all  admit  that  any  more 
flattering  or  less  humbling  view  of  ourselves,  which 
we  are  inclined  to  take,  is  a  false  view,  a  delusion  to 
which  our  sinfulness  has  exposed  us?  Then  let  us 
take  God's  view ;  let  us  accept  it,  and  submit  to  it. 
Let  us  give  up  our  own  view,  the  flattering  view  of 
ourselves  to  which  our  selfish  pride  clings  so  fondly, 
and  confess  that  we  have  all  "  gone  aside  "  ;  have  all 
gone  astray  like  lost  sheep ;  have  all  "  sinned  and 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God."  If  we  do  not  feel 
as  deeply  as  we  see  to  be  proper,  the  guilt  and  the 
shame  of  this,  still  let  us  frankly  confess  the  fact, 
submitting  to  God's  judgment.  In  that  proper  atti- 
tude of  submission,  perhaps  He  will  shed  upon  us 
the  grace  whereby  our  eyes  may  be  opened,  and  we 
be  enabled  to  see  wondrous  things  out  of  His  law. 
We  have  read  of  a  poor  servant  girl,  illiterate  and 
ignorant,  whom  a  minister  advised  to  offer  to  God, 
day  by  day,  this  simple  prayer :  "  0  Lord,  show  me  my- 
self." Obeying  the  wise  direction,  the  poor  child  daily 
knelt  alone,  before  Him  who  seeth  in  secret,  and  thus 
honestly  prayed.     She  really  and  sincerely  wished  to 


172  Sin  and  Salvation. 

know  how  wicked,  how  guilty,  how  vile  she  was,  in 
the  sight  of  the  holy  One.  She  really  and  truly 
wished  to  know  what  God  thought  of  her,  and  was 
willing  to  bear  the  necessary  pain  and  shame  of 
thinking  just  so  of  herself.  The  result  soon  was  a 
very  deep  conviction  of  sin,  a  very  humble  sense  of 
her  guilt  and  need.  She  felt  herself  to  be  "  wretched, 
and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked."  So 
any  one  is  likely  soon  to  feel,  who  thus  honestly 
places  himself  before  the  holy  God,  and  asks  to  be 
made  to  see  himself  in  His  light ;  yet  let  it  be  care- 
fully noted,  the  vivid  painfulness  of  this  conviction 
is  not  the  measure  of  its  value,  but  the  soul's  willing- 
ness to  submit  to  God's  estimate  and  decision.  He 
has  come  to  himself,  who  sees  that  not  his  own  esti- 
mate of  himself,  but  God's  estimate  of  him  is  reliable, 
and  who  accordingly  takes  God's  estimate,  and  hum- 
bles himself  submissively  under  it. 

What  now  is  a  reasonable  view  of  Christ  ?  Surely  we 
must  be  guided  to  a  right  answer  to  this  question,  in  the 
same  way.  What  think  we  of  Christ,  ought  to  be  deter- 
mined by  what  God  says  of  Christ ;  what  Christ  says 
of  himself.  That  there  is  no  difficulty  in  understand- 
ing all  this,  as  it  is  written  in  holy  Scripture,  I  shall 
not  pretend.  I  can  not  deny  that  there  is  difficulty  in 
making  out  and  defining  the  exact  meaning  of  some 
of  those  great  things  which  are  written  of  the  Christ. 
I  shall  not  claim  that  all  honest  disciples  do  under- 


Salvation  a  Recovery  from  Delusion.    173 

stand  all  those  divine  sayings  rightly,  or  do  all  under- 
stand them  alike.  Nicodemus  did  not  understand  all 
that  Christ  said  to  him,  a  teacher  of  Israel "  though 
he  was.  Peter  and  John  did  not  understand  all  that 
He  spoke  to  them  while  He  was  with  them,  and  it 
put  Thomas's  mind  to  a  painful  strain  even  to  believe 
all  that  his  dear  Lord  said — so  hard  was  it  for  him  to 
believe  what  he  could  not  understand — to  accept, 
even  from  his  Lord,  simple  affirmation  without  ex- 
planation. But  I  think  that  Thomas  at  last  con- 
cluded that  it  was  more  reasonable  for  him  to  take 
Christ's  word  than  to  depend  on  his  own  reasonings. 
Christ  was  gently  teaching  him  that  lesson  in  that 
conversation  recorded  by  John,  when  Jesus  had  told 
the  disciples  that  He  was  going  away  from  them,  away 
from  the  world,  unto  the  Father.  Thomas  was  anxious 
to  be  told  the  way  to  that  house  of  "  many  mansions," 
and  Jesus  replied  to  him  :  "  I  am  the  way." — JOHN  xiv. 
6.  Not  then  at  once  did  Thomas  learn  that  lesson  of 
implicit  trust.  But  when  to  the  risen  Jesus  showing 
him  the  wounds  in  His  hands  and  side  Thomas  ex- 
claimed, "  My  Lord,  and  my  God,"  then,  I  think, 
Thomas  had  pretty  thoroughly  learned  that  lesson. 
It  is  time  that  we  had  learned  it.  Just  now  I  am 
trying  to  show  what  is  a  reasonable  view  of  Christ, 
and  I  insist  that  such  a  view  may  and  does  include 
some  things  which  we  must  believe  to  be  true,  which 
yet  we  can  not  explain  nor  understand.     The  fact  of 


174  Sin  and  Salvation. 

His  resurrection,  His  being  visibly  and  tangibly  alive 
again,  after  He  had  been  dead,  was  so  clearly  demon- 
strated to  Thomas,  that  he  could  no  longer  refuse  to 
believe  it,  although  it  could  not  be  explained.  So 
also  was  it  reasonable  for  Thomas  fully  to  trust  Jesus, 
as  to  the  way  to  the  Father's  house,  although  Jesus 
did  not  try  to  explain  it  to  him.  He  was  just  to  be- 
lieve that  in  due  time  Jesus  would  bring  him  thither. 
He  was  the  way.  Very  much  like  that,  altogether 
like  that,  is  the  reasonable  view  for  us  to  take  of 
Christ.  We  are  not  to  expect  to  understand  Him,  to 
be  able  to  explain,  nor  to  have  satisfactorily  explained 
to  us,  all  the  high  truths  concerning  His  person,  or 
concerning  His  work.  But,  without  that,  and  far 
short  of  that,  we  can  know  that  His  power  is  ample 
for  the  task  He  has  undertaken ;  that  He  is  accepted 
and  acknowledged  by  the  Father  as  having  made  a 
sufficient  satisfaction  to  His  justice,  for  our  sins,  and 
as  "able  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  who  come 
unto  God  by  Him."  This  I  affirm  to  be  a  reasonable 
view  of  Christ.  It  is  repeatedly,  variously,  continual- 
ly presented,  and  insisted  upon  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  is  there  presented  as  the  fulfillment  of  all 
the  teachings  concerning  salvation  in  all  the  Old  Tes- 
tament Scriptures,  "  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  Law  for 
righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth." — ROM.  x. 
4.  He  is  "  the  lamb  of  God,  bearing  the  sin  of  the 
world." — John  i.  29.     He  "of  God  is  made  unto  us 


Salvation  a  Recovery  from  Delusion.     175 

wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and  sanctification,  and  re- 
demption."—  1  COR.  i.  30.  In  short,  nothing  could  be 
made  plainer  than  it  is  made  plain  in  Scripture,  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  our  all-sufficient  Savior;  that  what- 
ever was  necessary  to  be  suffered  on  account  of  our 
sins,  He  has  freely  suffered,  "  long,  long  ago,"  and 
"  once  for  all " ;  that  whatever  needs  to  be  done  to 
assure  our  justification  at  the  bar  of  God,  He  is  able 
to  do,  and  has  undertaken  to  do  ;  that  He  also  under- 
takes to  supply  all  the  gracious  help  we  need  for  the 
Christian  life  on  the  earth,  and  for  our  safe  and  sure 
entrance  into  heaven,  when  our  life  on  earth  is  ended. 
It  is  reasonable  to  regard  Him  as  competent  for  all 
that  He  undertakes,  reliable  for  all  that  he  promises. 
Now  with  this  reasonable  view  of  ourselves,  which 
the  word  of  God  so  irresistibly  gives  us,  as  simply 
lost  sinners,  guilty,  condemned,  helpless,  and  with 
this  reasonable  view  of  Christ,  as  an  all-sufficient 
Savior,  ready  and  willing  to  undertake  for  us  all  that 
we  need — what  is  the  only  reasonable  action  ? 

Does  not  the  actual  acceptance  of  Christ,  actual 
commitment  of  ourselves  to  Him,  follow  as  a  matter 
of  course  ?  We  should  certainly  think  so,  in  any  sec- 
ular matter.  To  see  a  great  need,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  see  at  hand  an  ample  and  available  supply  of 
that  need,  and  not  promptly  avail  ourselves  of  it,  is 
certainly  the  height  of  unreasonableness.  We  can 
not  account  for  men  acting  thus,  unless  they  are  un- 
der the  influence  of  some  delusion. 


176  Sin  and  Salvation. 

In  nothing  is  the  deceitfulness  of  sin  more  painfully 
shown  than  exactly  in  this  failure  of  impenitent  minds 
to  act  reasonably  in  view  of  the  Gospel,  in  respect  to 
Christ's  offer  to  be  their  Savior.  In  nothing,  I  think, 
are  thoughtful,  impenitent  persons  more  a  puzzle  to 
themselves  than  in  this. 

The  little  serving-maid  whose  simple  prayer,  "  O 
Lord,  show  me  myself,"  was  soon  answered  in  deep 
conviction  of  her  guilt  and  need,  was  then  advised  to 
pray,  "  O  Lord,  show  me  Thyself/'  Daily  she  of- 
fered up  this  prayer,  in  deep  sincerity  ;  and  after  a  little 
while  there  was  vouchsafed  to  her  such  a  view  of  God, 
in  Christ,  of  His  tender  and  infinite  pity  for  her,  and  His 
ability  and  disposition  to  save  her,  that  she  was  filled 
with  peace.  She  had  found  the  Savior.  Rather,  the 
Savior  had  found  her.  You  who  have  so  long  known 
the  way  of  salvation,  as  well  as  men  can  show  it  to 
you — pastors,  and  teachers,  and  parents — do  not  you 
need  to  have  God  show  it  to  you,  by  His  Spirit  ?  Ye 
who  have  so  long  known  Christ  with  your  heads,  but 
have  not  known  Him  with  your  hearts,  is  it  not  best 
for  you  to  take  up  the  little  maiden's  prayer^and  beg 
the  Lord  to  show  Himself  to  you  ? 

Recall  the  experience  of  Paul,  as  he  tells  it  to  the 
Galatians  (i.  15,  16).  He  speaks  there  of  God  who 
had  set  him  apart,  even  from  his  birth,  unto  the 
apostleship  which  he  at  last  fulfilled,  at  a  definite 
point  in  his  life,  "  revealing  His  Son  in  him!y     Then, 


Salvation  a  Recovery  from  Delusion.     177 

when  he  was  thus  made  to  know  Christ  with  his 
heart,  he  says,  "  Immediately  I  conferred  not  with 
flesh  and  blood."  We  understand  him  to  mean,  that 
he  then  needed  no  human  counsel,  because  the  Lord 
directly  revealed  to  him  all  that  was  needful  for  the 
fulfillment  of  his  mission. 

That  call  to  the  apostleship  was  peculiar.  But  in 
that  revealing  of  the  Son  of  God  in  Paul,  was  there 
not  also  an  enabling  him  to  see  Jesus  as  his  own  Sav- 
ior, trusting  in  whom  he  found  peace  with  God  ?  I 
have  no  doubt  of  this  ;  and  I  know  of  no  person  who 
lacks  that  peace  with  God,  whom  I  would  not  gladly 
persuade  to  pray  unto  God  thus  to  reveal  His  Son  in 
him. 

If  you  will  do  this,  if  day  by  day,  in  that  childlike 
simplicity,  you  will  ask  the  Lord  to  show  Himself  to 
you,  I  believe  that  you  then  will  not  need  to  "  confer 
with  flesh  and  blood " ;  but  will  find  His  gracious 
power  delivering  you  from  the  illusions  of  sin ;  find 
yourselves  truly  "  beholding  the  Lamb  of  God  who 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 


8* 


CHAPTER   VIII. 
SALVATION  OF  HOUSEHOLDS. 

IN  our  study  of  Sin,  we  found  one  of  its  saddest 
aspects  to  be  its  hereditariness,  our  being  involved 
in  its  guilt  and  misery,  not  as  isolated  individuals,  but 
as  a  race,  in  our  families  and  generations,  all  the  way 
from  our  first  parents.  Our  first  parents  sinned  and 
fell,  when  they  two  were  all  mankind  ;  when  they 
were  the  only  human  persons  existing ;  when,  in  a 
serious  and  true  sense,  all  their  posterity  were  yet  in 
them.  The  consequence  of  this  evidently  is,  that  all 
their  posterity  are  sinners,  exposed  to  the  wrath  of 
God,  and  needing  salvation.  The  different  theories 
by  which  theologians  have  tried  to  explain  this,  or  to 
account  for  it,  and  show  its  consistency  with  the  jus- 
tice and  goodness  of  our  Maker,  were  purposely  ex- 
cluded from  consideration.  These  are  products  of  hu- 
man speculation,  by  which  faith  must  not  be  bound, 
and  upon  which  faith  does  not  depend  for  its  saving 
efficacy.  More  and  more,  theologians  are  finding 
that  they  can  "  agree  to  differ  "  in  those  speculations, 
and  yet  know  each  other  to  hold  alike,  and  with  equal 

tenacity,  all  the  facts  asserted  in  the  Scriptures.     We 

(178) 


Salvation  of  Households.  179 

can  also  agree  to  neglect  those  speculations,  and  hold 
fast  those  solemn,  awful,  grand  facts. 

It  is  an  interesting,  and  by  no  means  an  unpracti- 
cal question,  whether  salvation  comes  to  us  wholly  as 
separate  individuals,  or  comes  to  us  in  the  association 
in  which  we  exist  and  live — particularly,  whether  our 
closest  association  in  families  has  any  vital  connection 
with  our  experience  of  salvation. 

In  the  New  Testament  records  of  the  actual  ex- 
perience of  salvation,  the  family  relation  has  the  same 
prominence  as  in  all  secular  experience  and  history. 
Men  and  women  were  habitually  addressed  and  dealt 
with  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  His  Apostles,  both  in 
their  preaching  and  in  their  Epistles,  not  as  isolated 
persons,  but  as  related  persons,  bound  together  by  do- 
mestic ties,  grouped  together  in  households,  interested 
in  each  other,  influencing  each  other,  loving  each 
other  as  husbands  and  wives,  as  parents  and  children, 
as  brothers  and  sisters — in  short,  as  families.  There 
is  everywhere  a  recognition  of  home,  of  that  dwelling 
together,  that  interlacing  of  relations,  that  blending 
of  interests  and  experiences,  of  which  the  word  home 
is  so  sweetly  and  so  powerfully  significant. 

Did  ever  any  one  to  whom  the  Gospel  of  salvation 
was  to  be  preached  by  Jesus  himself,  seem  more  alone 
than  the  little  man  who  climbed  up  into  a  tree  to  see 
Him,  near  Jericho?  But  Jesus  bade  him  "come 
down,"  and  take  Him  home  with  him,  and  there  He 


180  Sin  and  Salvation. 

said,  "  This  day  is  salvation  come  to  this  house."  Now 
the  word  house,  in  the  language  in  which  Luke  wrote, 
as  in  our  own  and  probably  in  all  others,  has  a  two- 
fold meaning.  It  may  denote  the  material  building 
in  which  a  human  family  live,  or  the  human  family  who 
live  in  tl  at  building.  It  may  mean  a  human  dwelling- 
place  or  the  natural  cluster  or  association  of  human 
beings  who  dwell  together  therein.  In  this  case,  it 
certainly  is  possible  to  understand  our  Lord,  in  the 
words  which  Luke  has  recorded,  as  saying  simply, 
"  Salvation  has  taken  place,  or  become  a  fact,  this 
day,  in  this  house"*  But  is  it  possible  to  understand 
him  as  thinking  of  the  house  merely  as  a  material 
building,  and  not  chiefly  as  a  human  dwelling-place  ? 
Although  no  mention  is  made  of  Zaccheus'  domestic 
relations,  and  we  do  not  know  whether  he  was  mar- 
ried, do  we  not  most  naturally  imagine  him  as  the 
head  of  a  family,  into  the  midst  of  which  he  ushered 
his  newly  found  Savior,  and  to  whom  the  gracious 
words  of  the  Savior  came  as  cheeringly  as  to  himself, 
"  This  day  salvation  is  come  to  this  house"  ?  We  do 
not  affirm  this.  It  would  not  be  right  to  affirm  that 
of  which  the  Scripture  is  silent.  But  I  do  think  it  is 
natural  to  think:  of  Zaccheus  as  most  probably  the 
head  of  a  family,  which  was  blessed  with  him,  in  the 
Savior's  coming  into  their  home.     I  also  think  that 


"  On  djj/iepov  dun-rjpia  to  olaco  rovru  eyevero.' 


Salvation  of  Households.  181 

this  natural  supposition  is  encouraged  by  the  manner 
in  which  the  Scriptures  do  speak  of  other  instances 
in  which  salvation  came  to  men  in  their  homes. 

When  the  Philippian  jailer,  trembling  and  aston- 
ished at  the  earthquake,  and  convinced  of  his  soul's 
guilt  and  peril  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  fell  down  before 
Paul  and  Silas  and  asked  what  he  must  do  to  be  saved, 
they  answered,  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved,  and  thy  house."  The  narra- 
tive proceeds  to  state  that  the  same  "  word  of  the 
Lord  "  which  was  blessed  to  the  jailer  for  his  salva- 
tion was  presently  spoken  "  to  all  that  were  in  his 
house " ;  and  that  he  "  was  baptized,  and  all  his 
straightway  "  ;  also,  that  "  he  set  food  before  them 
and  rejoiced,  believing  in  God  with  all  his  house." 

The  nice  questions,  whether  there  were  any  infant 
children  in  that  house  ;  whether,  if  there  were,  they 
were  baptized ;  or  whether  we  are  to  understand  the 
phrases  "  all  his,"  "  all  his  house,"  and  "  all  that  were 
in  his  house,"  in  the  connection  and  relations  in  which 
they  are  used,  as  denoting  only  all  those  persons 
dwelling  there  who  could  and  did  intelligently  hear 
"  the  word  of  the  Lord,"  and  did  intelligently  "  be- 
lieve in  God  " — these  are  questions  on  which  sincere 
Christian  students  of  the  New  Testament  are  not 
entirely  agreed.  We,  who  hold  to  the  scriptural  pro- 
priety, and  estimate  above  all  price  the  privilege  of 
presenting  our  children  to  God  in  baptism,  can  not 


1 82  Sin  and  Salvation. 

fairly  claim  that  it  is  put  beyond  all  question  by  this 
passage  alone.  Indeed  I  am  not  disposed  to  claim 
that  it  is  quite  put  beyond  question  by  all  that  we 
have  in  Scripture.  My  own  mind  is  satisfied,  and 
rests  with  unutterable  delight  in  the  assurance,  that 
when  I  presented  the  children  which  God  gave  me, 
in  His  house  to  receive  the  baptismal  token,  and 
when  so  often  I  have  taken  the  infant  children  of  my 
people  in  my  arms,  and  placed  that  sweet  token  upon 
them,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  I  have  acted  as  certainly  within  my 
scriptural  privilege  as  did  any  devout  Israelite  who 
set  the  seal  of  God's  everlasting  covenant  upon  His 
offspring,  in  its  own  blood.  Being  assured  by  in- 
spired Paul,  that,  if  I  believe  in  Jesus,  I  am  as  good 
an  Israelite  as  he,  that  being  in  Christ  I  am  of  Abra- 
ham's seed,  and  an  heir  according  to  the  promise,  I 
confidently  claim  the  privilege  of  having  that  promise 
sealed  to  me  and  to  my  seed  after  me,  by  that  milder 
token  which  I  understand  to  be  in  the  place  of  the 
bloody  token  of  old.  Yet  I  cheerfully  testify  that  I 
have  intimate  acquaintance  and  precious  fellowship 
with  sincere  believers  in  Jesus,  who  do  not  see  that 
the  visible  token  of  faith  and  of  consecration  may 
scripturally  be  put  upon  the  offspring  of  believers, 
but  think  that  the  word  of  God,  fairly  interpreted, 
requires  it  to  be  put  only  upon  the  persons  of  be- 
lievers.     I  cheerfully  and  thankfully  testify  that   I 


Salvation  of  Households.  183 

have  found  such  Christians  able  to  sympathize  fully 
with  us  in  all  that  we  mean  by  the  baptism  of  our  in- 
fants, though  not  seeing  it  right  to  apply  baptism  for 
the  expression  of  that  meaning.  They  consecrate 
their  children  to  Christ ;  they  invoke  for  them  His 
gracious  blessing ;  they  ask  for  their  early  renewal  by 
the  regenerating  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  they  be- 
lieve in  and  pray  for  this  spiritual  renewing  even  in 
infancy ;  but  do  not  think  it  scriptural  to  apply  the 
sacramental  token  until  the  child  can  make  intelligent 
profession  of  faith,  and  give  evidence,  in  a  godly  life, 
that  he  has  in  fact  experienced  "  the  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  I  have  no  heart  for  disputing  with  such 
brethren  and  sisters.  We  are  agreed  as  to  the  thing 
signified.  We  differ  only  as  to  the  proper  application 
of  an  outward  sign.  How  sad  it  would  be,  and  how 
foolish,  to  mar  our  fellowship  in  that  which  we  both 
hold  to  be  spiritual  and  vital,  by  too  eager  disputa- 
tion about  that  which  is  outward  and  visible,  and 
which  is  confessedly  of  no  use  or  value  apart  from  its 
spiritual  import. 

It  is  right  for  me  to  call  attention  to  the  record  of 
Lydia's  reception  into  the  Christian  Church  (Acts 
xvi.  15).  "And  when  she  was  baptized,  and  her 
household,  she  besought  us,  saying,  If  ye  have  judged 
me  to  be  faithful  to  the  Lord,  come  into  my  house, 
and  abide.  And  she  constrained  us."  I  shall  no  more 
assert  here,  than  in  the  other  case,  that  there  were 


184  Sin  and  Salvation. 

infants  in  the  household.  We  are  not  told,  and  I  am  not 
sure,  whether  there  were.  While  I  frankly  admit  this, 
I  will  just  as  frankly  say  that  this  and  kindred  state- 
ments in  the  New  Testament  about  the  baptism  of 
households  do  seem  to  me  like  the  writing  of  men 
who  believed  in  the  baptism  of  households  as  such, 
not  merely  in  the  baptism  of  believers  as  such.  It 
certainly  is  more  natural  for  missionaries  to  use  the 
same  form  of  expression,  who  when  they  baptize  be- 
lievers baptize  also  their  households  as  a  matter  of 
course,  than  for  those  who  baptize  only  believers 
with  such  members  of  their  households  as  are  be- 
lievers also.  These  find  no  occasion  to  speak  of 
baptizing  households.  Even  when  all  the  members 
of  any  family,  being  believers,  are  baptized,  they  do 
not  at  all  baptize  them  as  members  of  that  house- 
hold, but  only  as  individual  believers,  and  their  re- 
ports and  records  naturally  take  shape  accordingly. 
The  apostolic  records  took  what  seems  to  us  the 
pedo-baptist  shape.  Another  instance  of  this  is  in 
1  Cor.  i.  16,  where  Paul,  while  showing  plainly  that 
he  regards  baptism,  any  way,  as  of  vastly  less  impor- 
tance than  preaching,  so  that  he  seldom  baptized 
anybody  himself,  still  did  speak  of  having  "  baptized 
the  household  of  Stephanas." 

I  have  already  adverted  to  that  remarkable  affirma- 
tion of  Paul  (Gal.  iii.  29)  that,  "  if  we  be  Christ's,  then 
are  we  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the 


Salvation  of  Households.  185 

promise."  Coupling  this  with  the  promise  to  Abra- 
ham, which  was  sealed  by  circumcision,  we  claim  for 
our  children,  with  ourselves,  all  the  spiritual  good 
which  that  Abrahamic  covenant  assured  to  the  be- 
lieving Israelite,  and  to  his  children  with  him.  "  And 
I  will  establish  my  covenant  between  me  and  thee 
and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their  generations,  for  an 
everlasting  covenant,  to  be  a  God  unto  thee  and  to 
thy  seed  after  thee." — Gen.  xvii.  7. 

No  one  believes  that  this  promise  made  spiritual 
salvation  certain  to  every  one  born  into  an  Israelite 
household,  and  circumcised  on  the  eighth  day.  No 
one  doubts  that  an  Israelite,  duly  circumcised,  might 
apostatize  from  the  covenant  of  his  God,  and  go  "  to 
his  own  place,"  as  surely  Judas  did. 

Was  there,  then,  no  advantage  in  being  an  Is- 
raelite, born  and  circumcised  in  a  home  over 
which  the  divine  covenant  extended  ?  We  might 
justly  answer  this  question  in  words  of  Paul.  Ad- 
vantage there  indeed  was,  "  much  every  way,  chiefly 
because  that  unto  them  were  committed  the  oracles 
of  God." — Rom.  iii.  1,2.  If  he  said  this  of  the  priv- 
ilege of  belonging  to  the  Jewish  nation,  we  do  not 
pervert  it  in  applying  it  to  the  privilege  of  belonging 
to  a  Jewish  household,  of  being  born  and  circumcised 
and  reared  in  a  Jewish  home.  Paul  was  far  from 
teaching  and  far  from  thinking  that  the  advantage 
consisted  in  the  being  circumcised.     It  consisted  in 


1 86  Sin  and  Salvation. 

that  possession  and  use  of  the  oracles  of  God  which 
circumcision  pledged,  of  which  circumcision  was  the 
token.  There  was  immense  advantage  in  being  born 
and  reared  in  a  home  in  which  divine  influences  were 
enjoyed,  and  to  which  divine  promises  were  given, 
such  as  circumcision  signified  and  sealed. 

There  is  the  same  advantage  in  being  born  and 
reared  in  a  truly  Christian  home  of  parents  who  take 
hold  of  God's  ancient  promise  with  full  faith,  accord- 
ing to  inspired  Paul's  assurance  that  they  are  "  Abra- 
ham's seed  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise." 

I  am  not,  by  any  means,  so  solicitous  to  commend 
the  view  which  I  take  of  the  ordinance  of  baptism  in 
its  application  to  infant  children  of  believers,  as  to 
exalt  the  spiritual  privilege  which  I  understand  that 
visible  rite  to  signify.  That  privilege  I  have  found 
that  some  Christian  parents  hold  as  dear  as  we,  who 
can  not  accept  our  view  of  the  applicability  of  that 
rite  to  infants. 

The  essential,  spiritual  privilege  is,  to  have  God  in 
our  homes.  It  is  to  have  the  Savior  come  into  our 
houses,  and  bring  salvation  to  all  their  inmates. 

I.  It  is  infinitely  desirable  that  every  husband  and 
wife  be  united  u  in  the  Lord  " — "  as  being  heirs  to- 
gether of  the  grace  of  life."  The  union  of  two  hu- 
man beings  in  marriage  is  the  closest  and  most  inti- 
mate which  human  life  knows.  It  supposes  harmony 
of  views,  and  sympathy,  as  to  all  that  is  most  im- 


Salvation  of  Households.  187 

portant  and  precious.  It  is  a  sad  lack,  if  such  har- 
mony and  sympathy  be  not  between  them  in  regard 
to  their  relations  to  God  and  their  anticipations  of 
eternity.  I  need  not  dwell  upon  this.  All  to  whom  my 
words  will  come,  admit  it  to  be  so.  There  is  no  need 
that  that  sad  fact  should  continue,  in  the  experience 
of  any  such.  There  is  no  impenitent  man,  living  in 
wedlock  with  a  Christian  wife,  who  is  not  invited  im- 
mediately to  become  a  Christian.  The  reasons  in  favor 
of  this  are  sufficient,  and  ought  to  be  conclusive,  apart 
from  all  human  relations.  But  every  one  of  those 
reasons  is  strengthened,  every  one  of  those  consider- 
ations is  intensified,  by  the  fact  that  you  are  thus  re- 
lated. The  human  person  to  whom,  of  all  human 
persons,  you  are  most  dear,  and  who  is  most  dear  to 
you,  would  be  made  more  happy  by  your  acceptance 
of  Christ  than  by  any  other  event  whatever.  It  is 
not  wrong  for  you  to  regard  this,  nor  to  be  influenced 
by  it.  It  is  in  His  great  mercy  that  God  has  set 
within  your  home  such  a  persuasive  power  drawing 
you  toward  Himself;  that  He  has  fastened  upon 
your  heart  so  mighty  an  attraction  heavenward.  Do 
not  resist  it.  Take  the  hand  that  was  placed  in  yours 
in  such  affectionate  and  self-devoting  confidence,  and 
let  it  lead  you  to  Christ.  Clasp  that  hand  with  yours 
this  day,  upon  your  open  Bible.  Kneel  together  this 
day,  before  the  Lord,  in  cordial  union  of  prayer,  and 
consecration  to  Him  of  your  home,  and  your  mutual 


1 88  Sin  and  Salvation, 

love,  and  your  united  life.  He  who  made  you  male 
and  female,  He  who  instituted  the  holy  estate  of 
marriage,  He  who  said,  "  What  God  hath  joined  to- 
gether, let  not  man  put  asunder,"  is  not  willing  that 
you  should  be  permanently  put  asunder  even  by 
death.  He  is  not  willing  that  now  you  should  be 
estranged  from  each  other,  out  of  union  with  each 
other,  in  respect  to  your  most  important  experiences, 
in  respect  to  your  spiritual  life. 

2.  A  husband  and  wife  being  not  only  united  in 
true  and  pure  love  to  each  other,  but  united  in  Christ, 
have  exceeding  great  and  precious  encouragement  to 
seek  from  Him  the  salvation  of  their  offspring.  Apart 
altogether  from  what  we  believe  concerning  God's 
covenant  with  Abraham  and  the  interest  of  Christ's 
people  in  it,  is  there  anything  touching  which  it  is 
easier  for  two  Christian  hearts  to  be  agreed  in  asking 
it  of  God,  than  the  salvation  of  a  child  that  is  bone 
of  their  bone  and  flesh  of  their  flesh  ?  To  what  more 
surely  than  to  this  can  that  sweet  promise  of  Jesus  be 
applied?  Matt,  xviii.  19:  "Again  I  say  unto  you, 
that  if  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching 
anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them 
of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 

And  do  not  all  we,  who  believe  in  that  special 
Abrahamic  covenant,  and  in  its  perpetual  validity  and 
present  availableness  to  us,  find  in  it  a  strong  rein- 
forcement of  our  trust  in  this  general  assurance  con- 


Salvation  of  Households.  i8g 

cerning  united  prayer?  Do  Christian  parents  take 
hold  on  those  divine  assurances,  with  anything  like 
the  confidence  which  the  character  of  Him  who  gives 
them  deserves  ?  I  can  not  think  that  those  parents 
at  all  appreciate  the  exceeding  riches  of  God's  promise, 
who  only  take  encouragement  from  it  to  pray  for  the 
"  conversion  "  of  their  children  after  they  have  come 
to  "  years  of  understanding."  I  have  given  my  rea- 
sons for  believing  in  the  "  early  beginning  of  salva- 
tion," so  early  that  the  word  "conversion"  is  not 
properly  applicable  to  it,  inasmuch  as  that  word  im- 
plies a  turning  from  a  course  which  they  never  begin 
who  experience  the  earliest  beginning  of  salvation. 
There  is  nothing  in  Scripture  to  forbid,  there  is  much 
in  Scripture,  and  in  the  happiest  Christian  experience, 
to  encourage  the  belief  that  God  does  meet  some  souls 
with  His  regenerating  grace,  at  the  beginning  point  of 
their  history,  as  moral,  responsible  creatures,  "  so  that 
their  whole  nature  may  be  developed  in  a  state  of 
reconciliation  with  God."*  Is  anything  more  proper 
to  be  asked  of  God  in  earnest  union  of  believing 
prayer,  by  any  two  disciples  of  Christ  than  this  by 
two  who  are  united  in  marriage,  in  behalf  of  their 
own  child  ?  May  not  a  married  pair  who  so  dwell 
together,  as  heirs  of  the  grace  of  life,  "that  their 
prayers  be  not   hindered,"  scripturally  hope   to  ob- 


*  Dr.  Charles  Hodge. 


190  Sin  and  Salvation. 

tain  this  early  beginning  of  salvation  for  all  their  off* 
spring  ? 

I  earnestly  commend  such  early  and  complete  sal- 
vation of  households  to  the  contemplation,  to  the 
prayers,  to  the  hopes,  of  all  who  lay  the  foundations 
of  homes  in  the  union  of  believing  Christian  hearts. 

Yet  let  me  not  seem  to  teach  nor  to  hold,  that  in 
homes  in  which  this  best  experience  has  not  been  se- 
cured, there  may  not  yet  be  full  salvation  of  all  the 
household.  You  who  are  now  dwelling  together  in 
the  same  home,  fed  daily  from  the  same  table,  shar- 
ing all  home  experiences  of  joy  and  of  sorrow,  while 
some  of  your  number  have  hope  in  Christ,  and  others 
of  you  have  no  such  hope, — why  should  this  separa- 
tion continue?  It  is  not  God's  desire  to  have  it  so. 
He  evidently  wishes  you  all  to  be  happy  together  in 
Him,  together  saved  by  His  Son,  our  Savior. 

It  purely  is  a  sad  thing  that  there  should  be  divided 
households  in  a  Christian  congregation ;  that  in  the 
same  home  there  should  be  some  loving  and  trusting 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  some  who  do  not  love  and  trust 
Him.  There  surely  is  no  need  of  this.  I  am  afraid 
that  mistaken  views  of  what  is  supposed  to  be  ortho- 
doxy lead  some  to  assume  that  this  must  be  so  ;  and 
I  apprehend  that  this  assumption  is  among  the  causes 
of  its  continuing  to  be  so.  There  is  no  need  of  its 
being  so.  There  is  no  reason  for  its  being  so.  There 
is  no  excuse  for  its  being  so.     There  are  families  in 


Salvation  of  Households.  191 

which  all  are  Christians,  parents  and  children  all 
dwelling  together  "as  heirs  of  the  grace  of  life." 
There  is  no  good  reason  why,  in  any  home  in  which 
there  are  any  Christians,  all  should  not  be  Christians. 
Every  family  in  which  there  is  one  saved  person,  has 
a  present  example,  which  if  the  whole  family  will  but 
follow,  there  is  at  once  a  saved  family. 


CHAPTER    IX. 
SALVATION   OF   SOCIETY. 

A  BEAUTIFUL  and  instructive  parable  of  out 
Lord  is  recorded  by  Matthew  and  by  Luke,  in 
a  single  sentence :  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like 
unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three 
measures  of  meal,  till  the  whole  was  leavened."*  It 
is  quite  remarkable  that  this  is  the  only  instance  in 
the  New  Testament  in  which  the  action  of  leaven  is 
used  to  illustrate  the  diffusion  of  good  influence.  In 
other  places  leaven  is  the  type  of  unwholesome  and 
evil  influences. 

"  Take  heed  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Phari- 
sees and  of  the  Sadducees,"  said  Jesus  to  His  dis- 
ciples, and  marveled  that  they  did  not  at  once  under- 
stand that  He  was  warning  them  against  the  perni- 
cious teaching  of  those  sects. — Matt.  xvi.  6.  Luke 
also  informs  us,  that  he  had  reference  not  only  to 
their  erroneous  teaching,  but  to  the  "  hypocrisy  "  in- 
volved in  it.  They  did  not  sincerely  mean  what  they 
taught. 


*  Matt.  xiii.  33  ;  Luke  xiii.  21. 
(192) 


Salvation  of  Society.  193 

The  apostle  Paul,  writing  to  the  Corinthians,  refers 
to  the  diffusive  quality  of  leaven,  its  power  to  "  leaven 
the  whole  lump,"  and  exhorts  them  to  "  purge  out 
the  old  leaven."  He  speaks  further  in  the  same  con- 
nection, of  "  the  leaven  of  malice  and  wickedness." 
He  uses  the  same  type,  for  similar  admonition  to  the 
Galatians. — Gal.  v.  9.  Considering  that  leaven  was 
forbidden  to  the  Israelites,  in  their  chief  national  fes- 
tival, we  should  rather  expect  it  to  be  used  in  Script- 
ure as  a  symbol  of  that  which  is  to  be  shunned  than 
of  that  which  is  to  be  sought  and  prayed  for.  Yet 
there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  ordinarily,  and  apart 
from  that  religious  festival,  there  was  any  objection  to 
the  use  of  leavened  bread  in  Jewish  families.  Indeed 
our  Lord's  reference  in  His  parable,  seems  to  assume 
that  His  hearers  were  familiar  with  this  use  of  leaven, 
as  we  are  in  our  domestic  bread-making.  It  is  a  beauti- 
ful, and  truly  a  wonderful  process,  involving  one  of 
nature's  deep  and  cunning  mysteries,  mastered  and 
managed  by  human  skill,  for  human  use.  Observe 
the  frugal  housewife  preparing  bread  for  her  family. 
From  her  well-provided  store-room  she  brings  a  suf- 
ficient quantity  of  flour.  She  has  at  hand  the  several 
ingredients  which  experience  or  science  has  taught 
her  to  provide.  She  carefully  mingles  them,  observ- 
ing the  required  conditions  of  moisture,  temperature, 
etc.  Then,  placing  the  whole  mass  in  a  secure  posi- 
tion, she  leaves  it.  Shall  we  say  that  she  leaves  it  to 
9 


194  Sin  and  Salvation. 

itself  ?  Shall  we  say  that  she  leaves  it  to  nature  ? — 
to  the  operation  of  forces  and  laws  of  chemistry  ?  Let 
us  rather  say  (telling  the  truth  more  fully  and  more 
deeply),  she  leaves  it  to  God,  who  instituted  and  per- 
petually upholds  and  works  those  laws  and  forces. 
While  she  busies  herself  here  and  there  iri  the  house, 
or  while  she  reads,  or  entertains  company,  or  while 
she  sleeps,  those  forces,  under  those  laws,  work  on, 
because  God  evermore  works  in  them.  An  invisible 
force,  God's  invisible  finger,  touches  every  particle  of 
that  mass,  and  makes  it  tingle,  and  stir,  and  lift  up 
itself,  with  a  strange  life.  No  longer  a  heavy,  inert 
lump,  it  expands,  and  rises  in  beautiful  porous  light- 
ness. She  must  hasten  to  prevent  its  pouring  itself 
wastefully  over.  See  the  good  housewife's  look  of 
complete  satisfaction  as  she  lifts  the  cover.  With 
cheerfulness  of  hope  she  kneads,  and  divides  into 
loaves,  and  deposits  these  in  the  heated  oven,  from 
which  in  due  time  she  brings  them  forth  ready  for 
the  table.  Industriously  and  wisely  working,  work- 
ing in  conformity  with  nature  (z.  e.f  in  conformity 
with  God's  orderly  way  of  working),  she  has  God 
working  with  her  unto  the  happy  result,  the  good 
cheer  of  her  table,  and  the  nourishment  and  health 
of  her  family. 

What  is  the  instrument,  provided  and  energized  by 
God,  and  dutifully  used  by  her,  for  this  good  and  use- 
ful work  ?    It  is  the  leaven,  little  in  bulk,  but  great  in 


Salvation  of  Society.  195 

power.  She  puts  it  into  the  midst  of  the  flour,  she 
buries  it  up  there,  and  quite  hides  it  out  of  sight.  But 
it  can  not  stay  hidden.  Its  mysterious  influence  soon 
quickens  the  adjacent  particles;  through  them  it  is 
transmitted  to  the  next  beyond ;  onward  and  onward 
still  spreads  the  defusive  influence,  until  every  particle 
has  waked  from  its  torpor,  and  has  touched  and  waked 
its  neighbor,  and  the  whole  lump  is  leavened. 

Our  Lord  has  hallowed  this  process  of  nature,  this 
familiar  transaction  of  domestic  life,  by  setting  it  in 
His  Gospel  as  one  of  His  many  types  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven — that  kingdom  of  which  He  so  beautifully 
said,  it  "  cometh  not  with  observation  "  ;  it  is  "  within 
you." 

In  His  use  of  this  type,  He  recognizes  some  im- 
portant characteristics  of  the  human  mind,  in  human 
society;  and  He  shows  how  thought,  opinion,  ideas, 
teaching,  true  or  false,  work  upon  the  human  mind, 
in  human  society,  for  corruption,  debasement,  ruin, 
or  for  quickening,  uplifting,  salvation. 

In  His  parable,  He  likens  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
to  leaven.  The  type  is  not  inapplicable  to  the  expe- 
rience of  individuals — to  what  an  old  writer  has  called, 
in  his  title  of  a  precious  book,  "  the  rise  and  progress 
of  religion  in  the  soul."  Softly  and  silently  the  power 
of  the  Divine  Spirit  is  felt  in  the  human  spirit,  waking 
it  to  right  thought,  quickening  its  sensibility,  rousing 
its  conscience,  making  its  affections  rise  to  things 


196  Sin  and  Salvation. 

above,  giving  it  a  benevolent  expansion  and  a  devout 
aspiration.  From  the  hidden,  central  places  of  the 
spirit,  the  quickening  influence  entends  through  all 
the  substance  of  the  character,  unto  the  outermost 
circumference  of  the  life. 

Still  more  strikingly  applicable  is  the  type  to  the 
rise  and  progress  of  religion  in  communities,  the  ap- 
plication of  the  Gospel  to  the  salvation  of  human  so- 
ciety. Having  meditated  upon  Salvation  by  Christ, 
in  various  aspects  of  it,  as  experienced  by  individuals, 
having  also  considered  what  the  Scriptures  teach  con- 
cerning the  salvation  of  households,  we  naturally  in- 
quire what  we  may  scripturally  hope  from  the  Lord 
Jesus,  for  human  society  at  large. 

What  is  human  society?  The  phrase  calls  our 
minds  to  mankind,  as  they  are  associated  and  related. 
Mankind  are  obviously  fitted  by  nature  for  mutual 
association  and  relations.  It  was  no  more  true  of  the 
first  man,  that  it  was  "  not  good  for  him  to  be  alone," 
than  it  is  true  of  all  other  men  and  of  all  women. 
Neither  is  that  first  relation,  which  was  formed  in 
Eden,  the  only  relation  which  is  needed  by  all  men. 
No  two  human  beings  are  altogether  sufficient  for 
each  other.  It  is  not  good  for  any  pair  of  human  be 
ings  to  be  alone.  Their  nature  needs,  for  its  best 
development  and  condition,  a  wider  and  more  various 
association.  God  has  provided  for  this.  The  family, 
if  it  is  the  first  and  the  fundamental  form  of  human 


Salvation  of  Society,  197 

society,  is  not  its  only  form.  Human  nature  would 
be  dwarfed  and  stunted  and  deformed  by  attempting 
to  make  it  so.  The  family  naturally  expands  into 
the  wider  society,  from  which  states  and '  nations  are 
developed,  and  the  wide  community  of  nations  as 
naturally  arises.  When  we  speak  of  society,  we 
mean  more  than  the  home  circle  of  any  single  house- 
hold. We  at  least  include  a  considerable  number  of 
households,  having  some  kind  of  social  relations  with 
one  another,  holding  some  kind  of  intercourse.  These 
relations  and  this  intercourse  may  grow  out  of  busi- 
ness, and  may  be  cultivated  for  the  sake  of  business. 
They  may  relate  to  literature  and  science,  and  be  val- 
ued as  helps  to  intellectual  improvement.  They  may 
be  founded  in  common  views  and  sympathies  concern- 
ing religion.  They  may  have  reference  to  that  need 
of  protection  from  wrong  and  violence,  for  the  sake 
of  which  we  establish  and  uphold  civil  governments. 
Any  or  all  of  these  forms  and  modes  and  purposes 
of  association,  and  any  or  all  of  the  relations  which 
they  involve,  may  be  included  in  the  phrase,  "  human 
society." 

It  is  sadly  evident  that,  in  all  these  forms  and 
phases  of  it,  human  society  is  dreadfully  damaged 
and  corrupted  by  sin.  Sin  is  always  a  thing  of  per- 
sonal, individual  choice,  responsibility,  blame.  No 
wrong  thing  can  be  done,  or  spoken,  or  purposed,  but 
some  person  has  to  answer  to  God  for  it.     Yet  two 


198  Sin  and  Salvation. 

persons,  or  many  persons,  may  agree  together  and 
unite  in  the  doing  of  a  wrong ;  one  person  may  in- 
fluence another  to  the  doing  of  wrong;  and  when 
many  persons  are  influencing  one  another  to  wrong, 
the  evil  power  and  tendency  fearfully  accumulate. 

Such  has  been  the  sad  experience  of  mankind  in 
all  generations,  and  in  all  lands.  It  thus  naturally 
cOmes  to  pass  that,  not  only  is  each  person  in  every 
human  community  a  sinner  and  a  sufferer,  needing 
pardon,  needing  healing,  needing  to  be  brought  back 
to  God,  needing  salvation ;  but  every  community,  as 
such,  suffers  in  its  common  interests  and  character,  by 
the  sin  of  its  members,  and  by  their  association  in 
sin.  Some  of  the  worst  evils  are  social  evils.  Some 
of  the  most  ruinous  vices  owe  their  prevalence  to  evil 
association.  Some  of  the  worst  consequences  of  sin, 
in  this  life,  are  its  effects  upon  communities.  There 
are  many  evils  and  vices,  from  which  it  does  not 
seem  to  be  possible  to  relieve  or  reclaim  single  and 
isolated  persons.  There  are  evils  of  such  a  character 
that,  even  as  men  help  each  other  into  them,  they 
need  each  other's  help  to  get  out  of  them ;  and  there 
is  help  of  God  which  comes  to  men,  not  separately, 
to  each  person  by  himself,  but  to  men  as  they  are 
naturally  associated,  and  in  their  actual  mutual  rela- 
tions. 

We  have  seen  that  this  is  so  in  the  family,  in  the 
home ;  that  there  is  such  a  fact,  such  a  blessed  fact 


Salvation  of  Society.  199 

as  the  salvation  of  households ; — is  it  so  in  the  wider 
associations,  in  the  larger  communities  ?  Is  there  sal- 
vation for  human  society  ?  This  is  the  great  question 
of  our  time.  This  is  the  great  question  of  all  times. 
The  evils  which  oppress  and  afflict  society — "  the  op- 
pression of  the  poor,  the  sighing  of  the  needy,"  the 
groaning  of  victims  of  tyranny,  political  corruption, 
commercial  dishonesty,  intemperance  and  lewdness 
with  all  their  hideous  abominations,  and  immeasur- 
able debasement — is  there  salvation  from  these,  for 
human  society?  Can  not  only  a  few  who  have  fallen 
into  these  pits  of  misery  and  sin  be  plucked  out,  and 
a  considerable  number  be  held  back  from  falling  in ; 
but  can  a  community  be  rid  of  these  pits  ?  Can^- 
ciety  be  saved  from  them  ? 

Certainly  there  has  been  a  great  amount  of  philan- 
thropic endeavor  for  this ;  and  while  very  excellent 
results  have  been  obtained,  there  has  generally  been  a 
sad  falling  short,  very  far  short,  of  what  philanthropic 
hearts  have  always  desired,  and  always  must  desire. 
Efforts  for  the  reformation  of  men,  in  large  masses, 
for  the  deliverance  of  extensive  communities  from 
abounding  vices,  have  been  often  discouraging  fail- 
ures. Moral  reformations,  giving  great  promise  of 
sweeping  triumphantly  through  large  communities, 
have  often  fallen  far  short  of  the  results  which  their 
promoters  have  hoped  for,  and  sometimes  they  have 
been  succeeded  by  disastrous  reactions. 


200  Sin  and  Salvation. 

May  we  not  hope  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
yet  to  come,  in  human  society,  more  effectually  and 
more  fully  than  has  yet  been  seen  ?  Is  not  the  leaven 
yet  to  leaven  the  whole  lump  ? 

Let  us  limit  our  present  inquiry  to  one  particular 
moral  reformation,  that  which  relates  to  the  evil  of 
intemperance.  From  a  time  beyond  which  the  mem- 
ory of  but  few  now  living  extends,  no  other  evil  ex- 
isting in  society  has  engaged  the  attention  of  Chris- 
tians and  philanthropists  more  extensively  or  more 
earnestly..  It  has  been  widely  proclaimed  and  gener- 
ally admitted,  that  this  holds  a  foremost  place  among 
the  evils  which  afflict  society.  Its  manifold  and 
dreadful  miseries,  its  malignant  aggravation  of  all 
miseries,  are  scarcely  capable  of  exaggeration.  The 
morbid  conditions  of  body  which  intoxicating  drink 
induces,  its  enfeebling  and  debasement  of  the  intel- 
lect, its  debauching  of  conscience,  its  hardening  of 
the  heart,  its  blighting  of  all  pure  affections,  its  stim- 
ulation of  every  impure  and  unholy  impulse,  its  deso- 
lation of  home,  its  multiplication  of  crimes,  its  load- 
ing of  society  with  burdens  of  otherwise  unnecessary 
taxation,  and  its  enfeebling  of  society  by  enervating 
vices,  its  hopeless  ruin  of  souls  by  rendering  them  in- 
capable of  attending  to  the  Gospel  and  embracing 
it — all  these  are  but  too  well  known  everywhere  to 
thoughtful  and  observant  men.  The  oratory  and  the 
literature  of  our  age  have  depicted  them  vividly  and 


Salvation  of  Society.  201 

abundantly.  These  pictures  have  become  so  common 
and  so  familiar  that  they  have  lost  much  of  their  for- 
mer power  to  impress  us.  Yet  it  is  true,  that  in  our 
land  especially,  and  in  Great  Britain  a  vast  amount 
of  honest  effort  has  been  put  forth  to  deliver  our 
communities  from  this  evil.  A  great  deal  has  been 
accomplished  by  these  efforts.  A  great  number  have 
been  saved.  Yet  in  both  countries  intemperance  con- 
tinues to  be  the  great  evil,  confessedly  the  cause  of 
by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  crime,  the  poverty,  the 
casualties,  and  the  domestic  miseries  which  abound. 

In  both  these  countries  there  is  at  present,  very 
extensively,  a  renewal  of  these  efforts.  With  what 
hope  may  we  look  upon  them?  With  what  heart 
may  we  engage  in  them  ? 

The  great  hopefulness  of  the  present  movement  is 
in  its  frank  and  humble  and  hearty  acknowledgment 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Very  extensively  the  temperance 
movement  of  this  time  is  evidently  but  a  phase  of 
religious  revival.  In  communities  in  which  there  is 
extensive  and  thorough  religious  awakening,  where 
Christians  are  fervent  in  prayer  and  diligent  in  labor, 
and  great  numbers  of  impenitent  are  seeking  salva- 
tion from  sin,  many  drunkards,  as  well  as  harlots,  are 
found  among  them,  seeking  the  Savior,  and  rejoicing 
in  the  assurance  of  His  pardoning  love.  They  also 
accept  the  assurance  of  His  readiness  to  uphold  and 
strengthen  them  unto  the  conflict  with  evil — with  ap 

9* 


202  Sin  and  Salvation. 

petite  within  and  manifold  solicitation  from  without, 
confessing  the  utter  insufficiency  of  their  own  resolu- 
tions and  their  own  powers.  This  is  a  practical  ac- 
knowledgment of  Christ,  as  the  only  Savior  from 
this  as  from  every  other  form  of  sin. 

In  some  instances,  also,  the  religious  revival  begins 
with  a  movement  for  the  reformation  of  men  from  in- 
temperance, commenced  and  continued  in  the  name, 
and  depending  on  the  gracious  power,  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  Such  effort  is  owned  and  honored  by  God  ; 
the  Holy  Spirit  comes  into  the  hearts  of  men  and 
women,  convincing  thgm  of  their  guilt  and  need ; 
they  become  not  merely  sober  men  and  women,  but 
disciples  of  Christ.  It  certainly  is  a  very  noticeable 
fact,  that  many  of  the  men  who  are  now  most  impres- 
sively pleading  the  cause  of  temperance  are  men  who 
once  were  drunkards,  and  who  now  humbly  and  thank- 
fully and  explicitly  ascribe  their  reformation  wholly  to 
the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Not  unfrequently 
they  testify,  that  again  and  again  they  tried  to  reform 
by  the  strength  of  their  own  wills,  and  again  and 
again  they  have  failed.  Now,  seeking  divine  help  by 
simple  prayer,  honoring  Christ  by  open  and  thankful 
acknowledgment  of  His  gracious  help,  they  feel  a 
strong  assurance  that  He  will  not  fail  them.  Well 
may  they  thus  trust  Him.  He  is  worthy  thus  to  be 
trustee^.  He  has  a  gracious  power  to  help  all  who 
trustingly  seek  His  help  to  be  delivered  from  sin. 

We  shall  have  reason  to  cherish  hope  for  the  sue- 


Salvation  of  Society.  203 

cess  of  this  movement,  just  in  proportion  as  it  pre- 
serves this  character.  We  can  really  and  effectually 
help  it  forward,  just  in  proportion  as  we  are  near  to 
Christ,  and  have  His  Spirit  dwelling  in  us. 

This  surely  is  a  hopeful  movement.  It  is  a  Chris- 
tian movement.  It  plants  itself  on  Christian  princi- 
ples. It  is  led  by  Christian  men,  and  nourished  by 
Christian  women.  It  honors  the  Lord  Jesus.  It  in- 
vites and  encourages  trust  in  Him  only.  It  aims  to 
extend  His  kingdom  ;  to  realize  His  salvation.  It 
accepts  the  Apostle  John's  declaration,  "  For  this  pur- 
pose the  Son  of  God  was  manifested,  that  he  might 
destroy  the  works  of  the  devil." —  1  JOHN  iii.  8. 

This  peculiar  and  hopeful  extension  of  salvation  to 
those  for  whom  there  has  been  the  least  hope  of  it, 
ought  surely  to  engage  the  unselfish  labor  and  prayer 
of  those  already  saved.  The  Church  of  God  upon 
earth  is  the  living  body,  of  which  Christ  is  the  living 
head.  Her  real  possession  and  manifestation  of  His 
indwelling  must  have  the  effect  of  destroying  the 
works  of  the  devil,  of  nullifying  his  fascinating,  en- 
slaving power,  and  releasing  his  victims.  If  the  evil 
works  of  the  evil  one  could  prosper  and  prevail  in  the 
very  presence  of  the  Church,  and  receive  from  her  no 
check  and  no  hindrance,  she  would  justly  apprehend 
that  she  lacks  his  power  and  his  indwelling.  When 
she  is  conscious  of  his  power  and  his  indwelling,  his 
virtue  will  go  forth  out  of  her  to  heal  the  world's 
sicknesses. 


CHAPTER    X. 
SALVATION  CONSUMMATED. 

THE  salvation  which  Jesus  Christ  brings,  and 
which  His  Gospel  reveals,  is  a  salvation  of  im- 
mortal beings.  They  are  everywhere  so  represented 
and  contemplated  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  expressly 
claimed  for  this  Savior,  that  He  "  hath  abolished 
death,  and  hath  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light 
through  the  Gospel." — 2  TlM.  i.  10.  That  which  was 
uncertainly  hoped  for  by  the  best  and  wisest  heathen, 
is  made  a  certainty  by  this  divine  revelation.  This 
assurance  of  immortality,  and  of  an  available  oppor- 
tunity to  make  it  an  immortality  of  holy  bliss,  makes 
this  revelation  indeed  a  gospel,  glad  tidings. 

The  beginning  of  this  great  salvation,  in  each  per- 
son's experience,  is  in  his  believing  acceptance  of  the 
Savior,  at  once  securing  his  release  from  condemna- 
tion, and  making  him,  in  that  sense,  at  once  a  saved 
man,  saved  completely,  and  once  for  all,  rescued,  no 
longer  exposed  to  condemnation. 

This  salvation  progresses,  in  the  work  of  sanctifica- 
tion,  which  is  not  unfitly  contemplated  as  a  conva- 
lescence of  the  soul  from  the  disease  of  sin,  its  gradual 
(204) 


Salvation   Consummated.  205 

recovery  of  spiritual  health.  It  is  not  merely  the 
cessation  from  positive  acts  of  sin,  ceasing  to  trans- 
gress the  law  of  God ;  it  is  the  cure  of  the  soul  from 
all  disposition  to  sin — the  recovery  of  it  from  all 
spiritual  infirmity. 

If  we  had  to  contemplate  this  as  a  result  only 
reached  at  the  close  of  existence ;  if  we  were  left  to 
regard  death  as  not  only  the  dissolution  of  our  bodies, 
but  as  the  cessation  of  our  being ;  if  we  were  com- 
pelled to  feel  ourselves  so  sinful  all  our  lives,  and  could 
only  hope  to  be  free  from  sin  just  when  we  cease 
to  be ; — surely  we  could  not  call  that  salvation,  nor 
Him  a  Savior  to  whom  we  should  owe  only  that.  No 
such  meagre,  paltry,  futile  thing  is  revealed  to  us,  or 
offered  to  us  under  so  great  a  name,  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament. It  is  "  eternal  salvation." — Heb.  v.  9.  It  is 
the  salvation  of  immortal  beings,  beings  whose  im- 
mortality the  Author  of  this  salvation  has  brought  to 
light,  having  for  them  conquered  and  abolished  death. 

The  life  which  the  saved  are  to  live  eternally  is 
their  salvation  consummated. 

Where  shall  that  life  be?  To  this  question  the 
Scriptures  give  no  definite  nor  clear  answer.  We  may 
indeed  scripturally  say,  that  it  is  in  heaven  ;  or  that  it 
is  where  God  is,  and  where  Christ  is.  We  may  recall 
Christ's  own  words :  "  I  go  to  the  Father"  ;  "  I  go  to 
prepare  a  place  for  you  "  ;  "I  will  not  leave  you  com- 
fortless " ;  "I  will  come  again,  and  receive  you  unto 


206  Sin  and  Salvation. 

myself,  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also.' 
These  assurances  are  sufficient  for  our  faith,  and  for 
our  peace  and  satisfaction ;  but  they  do  not  furnish 
our  minds  with  any  distinct  conceptions  whereby  we 
can  locate  the  scene  of  all  this  bliss.  Our  faith  rest- 
ing on  our  Savior's  word,  our  imagination  is  left  free. 
That  house  of  "  many  mansions " — His  "  Father's 
house  " — whether  those  words  describe  some  world 
fairer  than  this,  revolving  about  some  more  resplen- 
dent sun,  in  some  far-ofl  region  of  space ;  or  some 
glorious  system  of  worlds,  far  beyond  Arcturus,  Orion, 
and  Pleiades,  beyond  aH  the  stars  that  sparkle  to  our 
vision  through  our  most  powerful  glasses — some  sys- 
tem of  worlds  to  which  this  solar  system  may  be 
compared  as  a  child's  play-house  to  an  imperial 
palace ;  and  through  which  from  world  to  world  the 
saved  are  to  go  and  come  as  freely  as  a  child  from 
room  to  room  in  his  father's  house ;  --of  all  this  the 
Lord  has  not  told  us.  What  our  relations  to  space 
will  be,  when  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortal- 
ity, we  do  not  know.  Conjecture  is  not  forbidden. 
The  regaling  of  the  imagination  is  not  sinful :  but  we 
must  not  mistake  imagination  for  faith,  nor  teach 
conjecture  as  doctrine,  nor  yet  as  science.  Is  there 
then  no  solid  substance  of  doctrine  within  our  reach, 
available  for  present  comfort  and  edification — noth- 
ing  which  we  may  steadfastly  believe,  and  assuredly 
know  ?     Indeed  there  is,  and  not  a  little. 


Salvation    Consummated.  207 

I.  The  abode  of  the  saved,  wherever  it  may  be,  will 
be  inexpressibly  beautiful  and  glorious,  fitted  to  give  its 
occupants  the  most  complete  and  perfect  satisfaction. 
We  are  well  assured  of  this,  by  what  our  Savior  said 
to  the  disciples  (John  xiv.  2),  "  In  my  Father's  house 
are  many  mansions.  ....  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you."  Taken  in  its  connection,  we  can  not  un- 
derstand this  as  less  than  an  assurance  of  ample  pro- 
vision in  the  heavenly  home,  for  every  need  of  those 
whom  He  promises  to  bring  to  it.  Glimpses  into 
that  abode  have  been  vouchsafed  to  a  few  favored 
ones.  Stephen,  when  dying  that  cruel  death,  "  look- 
ed up  steadfastly  into  heaven,  and  saw  the  glory  of 
God,  and  Jesus  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God . 
And  said,  Behold,  I  see  heaven  opened,  and  the  Son 
of  Man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God." — ACTS 
vii.  55,  56.  But  who  on  earth,  save  the  three  who 
witnessed  the  Lord's  transfiguration,  has  been  able  to 
understand  what  that  vision  would  be  ?  To  one  of 
those  three  there  was  a  revelation  made  upon  the 
Isle  Patmos,  an  apocalypse,  which  He  was  ordered  to 
record  for  us.  In  its  last  two  chapters,  we  read  of  a 
celestial  city  with  wall  of  jasper,  its  foundations 
garnished  with  precious  stones,  its  gates  pearl,  and 
"  the  streets  of  the  city  pure  gold,  as  it  were  trans- 
parent glass," — "  no  night  there,  no  candle,  neither 
light  of  the  sun ;  for  the  Lord  God  giveth  them 
light."     We  read  also  of  its  river  of  life,  and  its  tree 


208  Sin  and  Salvation, 

of  life  on  either  side  of  the  river.  From  all  this  we 
can  not  understand  less  than  that  this  divine  attempt 
at  revelation  or  disclosure  of  the  heavenly  world  to 
us  here,  speedily  exhausts  all  human  language  and 
metaphors  and  powers  of  conception.  "  Eye  hath 
not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared 
for  them  that  love  him." — I  COR.  ii.  9. 

2.  The  abode  of  the  saved  will  be  suited  not  only  to 
their  souls,  but  to  their  raised  bodies.  Those  bodies 
will  be  very  different  from  these,  yet  they  will  be  bodies. 
They  will  indeed  be  these  bodies;  not  other  bodies 
then  and  there  newly  created,  of  other  earth  than  this, 
other  matter,  other  substance.  The  representation 
constantly  is  that  these  bodies  shall  be  raised,  reani- 
mated, revivified.  Not  indeed  as  was  Lazarus'  body, 
and  that  of  the  daughter  of  Jairus,  and  that  of  the 
young  man  at  Nain,  and  that  of  our  Lord,  revivified 
before  they  were  decomposed.  "  Dust  to  dust,"  no 
doubt,  all  our  bodies  will  crumble,  and  be  utterly  dis- 
sipated among  kindred  earthy  elements,  entering  into 
we  know  not  what  other  combinations.  It  is  no  more 
necessary  that  the  same  particles  of  matter  thus  dis- 
sipated should  be  regathered,  in  order  to  maintain 
the  identity  of  the  body  before  death  and  after  the 
resurrection,  than  it  is  necessary  for  the  body  now  to 
hold  continuously  the  same  particles  of  matter  in 
order  to  preserve  its  identity,  to  be  the  same  body, 


Salvation   Consummated.  209 

from  year  to  year,  and  from  youth  to  age.  In  fact, 
we  well  know,  that  our  bodies  are  continually  decay- 
ing and  dissolving,  through  all  their  cells  and  tissues, 
and  are  continually  renewed  by  vital  forces.  Yet 
from  childhood  to  age  we  have  the  same  bodies. 
There  is  in  our  bodies  something  real  which  is  not 
the  ever-changing  dust,  but  which  with  mysterious 
potency  evermore  constitutes  that  dust  a  living  body. 
The  qualities  and  powers  of  this  body  might  be  great- 
ly changed,  for  better  or  for  worse,  without  losing  its 
identity.  Is  not  that  bloated,  loathsome  body  which 
you  see  reeling  out  of  a  grog-shop,  or  standing  either 
before  or  behind  its  counter,  the  same  body  that  it 
was  ten  years  ago,  though  you  knew  it  then  in  youth- 
ful vigor  or  childish  beauty  ?  It  has  not  lost  its 
identity  although  it  has  been  so  greatly  and  so  sadly 
changed  in  its  qualities. 

The  body  of  your  friend  which  you  now  see  so  fair 
and  vigorous,  is  it  not  the  same  body  which  a  few 
months  ago  you  saw  prostrated  with  disease,  pitiably 
emaciated  and  powerless  ?  It  has  not  lost  its  identity, 
although  so  great  and  so  joyous  a  change  has  passed 
upon  it. 

"  We  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed, 
in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last 
trump  :  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall 
be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be  changed." — 1 
COR.  xv.  51,  52.     Plainly  we  shall  all  be  changed— 


210  Sin  and  Salvation. 

those  of  us  who  shall  have  been  dead  for  centuries  and 
those  of  us  who  will  then  be  alive  on  the  earth.  The 
apostle  speaks  for  us  all,  of  all  the  ages.  The  raised 
dead  shall  be  no  more  changed  from  what  they  were 
before  death,  than  shall  those  yet  living  be  changed 
in  that  one  moment,  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  But 
changed,  vastly  changed,  all  those  millions  of  bodies 
will  be.  They  will  be  bodies  still.  Vastly  changed 
they  might  be,  in  form,  in  qualities,  in  powers,  and 
still  be  kept  within  the  same  physical  laws  which  now 
hold  them.  I  looked  out  on  the  lake  visible  from  my 
windows,  on  a  cold,  clear  morning.  As  the  sun  was 
rising,  there  emerged  a  body  of  vapor  more  beautiful 
than  the  fabled  Venus,  born  of  the  sea.  With  won- 
derful grace  of  motion,  it  climbed  the  air,  evolving 
forms  various  and  mobile,  and  arraying  itself  in  colors 
most  fit  to  honor  the  sun's  bright  coming.  Was  not 
that  airy,  facile,  soaring  body  the  same  which  lay  be- 
fore, in  liquid  helplessness?  This  change  of  inert, 
ever  down-flowing  water  into  aerial,  soaring  luminous 
mist,  is  wrought  within  nature,  in  accordance  with 
natural  law,  by  the  steady  action  of  forces  which 
have  been  steadily  acting  from  the  creation  of  the 
world,  according  to  the  order  of  nature  which  God 
ordained  in  the  beginning.  The  men  of  science  in 
our  time  tell  us  that  in  the  onworking  of  these  forces, 
the  time  may  come  when  the  whole  world — its  fluid 
seas,  its  rocky  strata,  and  its  subterranean  fires — shall 


Salvation   Consummated.  211 

all  burst  again  into  the  vast  volume  of  nebulous  va- 
por  which  perhaps  it  once  was,  in  that  primeval  time 
when  the  earth  was  "without  form  and  void."  The 
ordering  of  those  forces  is  the  word  of  God,  who 
"  spake  and  it  was  done."  If  they  rightly  interpret 
God's  word  (as  it  has  been  spoken  through  nature 
and  been  written  in  Scripture),  who  say  that  His  word 
condensed  that  primal  cloud  ("  nebula  ")  into  this  solid 
globe,  and  formed  and  fashioned  it  into  this  habitable 
world,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  supposing  that  His 
word  commanding,  His  will  directing  these  awful 
forces,  may  bring  a  dissolution  of  terrestrial  nature 
as  sublime  as  any  have  understood  the  Scriptures  to 
foretell,  or  the  pent-up  volcanic  fires  and  latent  chemi- 
cal forces  to  intimate.  When  this  human  history 
shall  have  told  all  its  ages,  and  fulfilled  all  its  marvels  ; 
when  earthly  time  shall  end  in  that  sublime  catastro- 
phe which  both  science  and  Scripture  forebode ;  who 
will  question  the  power  of  our  Creator  to  refashion 
the  same  substance  into  a  new  world  whose  land- 
scapes, and  whose  climates,  and  whose  whole  system  of 
physical  laws  and  forces  shall  be  to  the  present,  as  the 
fairest  of  earth's  cultured  landscapes  to  a  waste,  howl- 
ing wilderness  ?  As  little  surely  is  it  to  be  questioned, 
that  His  power  can  take  the  same  substance  which 
forms  our  present  bodies,  and  (whether  by  forces  now 
existing  or  by  new  forces  which  He  will  then  origi- 
nate) form  and  fashion  it  into  bodies  whose  beauty, 


212  Sin  and  Salvation. 

and  powers,  and  susceptibilities  shall  far  transcend  all 
that  we  know  of  these,  and  all  that  we  imagine  of 
those  which  walked  together  in  Eden ; — shall  equal 
all  that  we  can  imagine  of  those  that  tread  the  golden 
pavements  of  New  Jerusalem. 

His  written  word  abundantly  warrants  our  expec- 
tation that  the  bodies  of  the  saved  will  be  such  as  to 
give  their  souls  the  happiest  condition  ;  and  that  the 
world  they  will  dwell  in,  will  be  perfectly  adapted  to 
their  wants  and  their  powers.  It  will  be  no  sin-blighted 
world,  bringing  forth  thorns  and  thistles,  no  creation 
groaning  and  travailing  in  pain,  under  God's  frown  at 
its  people's  wickedness.  Christ's  saved  people  will 
dwell  in  an  uncursed  world. 

3.  The  saved  in  eternity  will  enjoy  perpetual  rest. 
This  is  not  to  say  that  they  will  be  in  perpetual  idle- 
ness. In  a  world  and  a  life  in  which  labor  is  so  apt 
to  be  toil,  and  so  sure  to  bring  fatigue  and  exhaus- 
tion, we  are  liable  to  get  a  low  and  unworthy  con- 
ception of  rest,  as  if  it  were  slothful  inactivity,  the 
lazy  sleep  of  the  sluggard.  The  heavenly  idea  of  rest 
is  not  cessation  from  activity,  but  exemption  from  fa- 
tigue, from  alarms,  and  from  anxiety.  Powers  that 
are  incapable  of  weariness,  employment  that  has  no 
tendency  to  exhaustion,  work  that  is  perpetual  play, 
refreshing,  joyous,  exultant  activity,  perpetual  day 
with  no  felt  need  of  night, — such  is  the  heavenly  rest. 
"And  to  you  who  are  troubled  rest  with  us,  when 


Salvation   Consum7nated,  213 

the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his 
mighty  angels." — 2  THESS.  i.  7.  "And  I  heard  a  voice 
from  heaven  saying  unto  me,  Write,  Blessed  are  the 
dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth :  yea,  saith 
the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labors  ;* 
and  their  works  do  follow  them." — REV.  xiv.  13. 

Amid  the  fatigues  of  these  earthly  toils,  and  the 
worry  of  these  earthly  anxieties,  it  may  be  difficult 
for  us  adequately  to  conceive  of  such  rest.  Doubt- 
less it  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  have  such  ade- 
quate conception.  It  is  even  now  the  sweet  and 
blessed  privilege  of  all  who  follow  Jesus,  to  know 
that  He  will  bring  them  at  last  where  they  shall  feel 
no  more  fatigue,  no  more  alarms,  no  more  solicitude. 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you 
and  learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart ; 
and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls." — Matt.  xi. 
28,  29. 

It  does  not  contradict  this  affirmation  of  heavenly 
rest,  when  we  add — 

4.  The  saved  in  eternity  will  find  occasion  for  the 
highest  and  the  most  energetic  exercise  of  intellect- 
ual powers.  For  what  observations,  what  researches, 
what  discoveries  will  there  not  be  opportunity?  Over 
what  fields  of  observation,  with  what  delicious  facility 

*  The  word  is  kottqv,  denoting  toil,  or  wearisome  effort,  not  epyov 
or  evepyeini  which  might  denote  as  strenuous  activity  without  fatigue. 


214  Sin  an(t  Salvation. 

may  not  those  spiritual  bodies  soar  and  range  ?  Of 
what  vision,  insight,  intuition,  may  not  those  sinless, 
unwearying  spirits  be  capable  ?  What  science  !  what 
philosophy !  what  study  and  comprehension  of  his- 
tory ! — not  the  history  of  families  and  nations,  but  of 
worlds  and  dispensations  ! — and  how  shall  all  the  celes- 
tial sciences  resolve  themselves  into  all-comprehend- 
ing Theology,  in  which  we  shall  be  learning  more  and 
more  of  God,  forever  and  ever  !  "  For  now  we  see 
through  a  glass,  darkly :  but  then  face  to  face ;  now  T 
know  in  part :  but  then  shall  I  know  even  as  also  I 
am  known." — I  COR.  xiii.  12.  "  Beloved,  we  are  now 
children  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall  be :  but  we  know  that  when  he  shall  appear,  we 
shall  be  like  him ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is." — 1 
John  iii.  2. 

5.  The  saved  in  eternity  will  doubtless  enjoy  the 
steady  exercise  of  pure  and  holy  affection.  "  God  is 
love :  and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God, 
and  God  in  him." — 1  JOHN  iv.  16. 

They  will  be  ever  in  the  most  congenial  society — 
"  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of 
God  "  ;  "  ever  with  the  Lord  "  ;  where  "  there  shall 
never  enter  anything  that  defileth,  neither  whatso- 
ever worketh  abomination,  or  maketh  a  lie ;  but  they 
which  are  written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life." — Rev. 
xxi.  27. 

Add  to  all  this  the  conscious  approbation  of  their 


Salvation   Consmmnated.  215 

own  consciences,  and  of  all  holy  fellow-creatures,  and 
of  God,  with  the  undoubting  assurance  that  all  this  is 
to  endure  forever — and  what  is  lacking  to  fulfill  and 
to  consummate  a  complete  SALVATION  ?  "  Therefore 
are  they  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  him  day 
and  night  in  his  temple  ;  and  he  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne  shall  dwell  among  them.  They  shall  hunger 
no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more ;  neither  shall  the 
sun  light  on  them,  nor  any  heat.  For  the  Lamb 
which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall  feed  them, 
and  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains  of  waters ; 
and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes." — 
Rev.  vii.  15-17. 

"  And  there  shall  be  no  more  curse  ;  but  the  throne 
of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  shall  be  in  it ;  and  HIS  SER- 
VANTS SHALL  SERVE  HIM  :  and  they  shall  see  his  face  ; 
and  his  name  shall  be  in  their  foreheads.  And  there 
shall  be  no  night  there ;  and  they  need  no  candle, 
neither  light  of  the  sun ;  for  the  Lord  God  giveth 
them  light :  and  they  shall  reign  [shall  be  kings],  for- 
ever and  ever." — Rev.  xxii.  3-5. 


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